MLB Futures: Best Bets for 2025 World Series Winner
It has been just a few short weeks since the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games for their eighth World Series title in franchise history. And while most baseball fans will not even think about the 2025 season until pitchers and catchers report in Spring Training, this is a perfect opportunity to find great value in certain teams’ futures odds before all the moves related to free agency take place.
Read on to find out which teams are among our Best Early Bets to win the 2025 World Series.
Best Early Bets for the 2025 World Series
(MLB odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Los Angeles Dodgers (+400)
Call it a boring pick because the Dodgers won this past World Series and because they are the favorites to win next year as well. But +400 odds is a great value for a team that won an MLB-best 98 games in the regular season, that has three MVPs batting in the 1-2-3 spots in their lineup, and who arguably had an All-Star pitching staff on the IL this year.
Gavin Stone is expected to miss the entire 2025 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October, but Los Angeles will get back one of its top two starting pitchers in Tyler Glasnow, along with Clayton Kershaw, Michael Grove, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May.
The Dodgers proved in the playoffs that all it really takes to succeed in the postseason are three healthy starting pitchers and a deep bullpen. But with the way Los Angeles spends money, signing $1B worth of free agents last offseason and adding Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline, there is no telling how much the Dodgers roster can significantly improve before next October.
New York Mets (+950)
While I am not nearly as confident on this wager as I am about the Dodgers, it is worth a sprinkle to back the Mets to win the World Series given their chances of prying Juan Soto away from the Yankees.
New York’s front office should be given a lot of credit hitting lightning in a bottle with several short-term pitching contracts last year (Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, and Luis Severino). The Mets also have the deepest pockets in the sport with Steve Cohen signing the checks. And even if they move on from veteran first baseman Pete Alonso, there are plenty of other options they can replace him with, most of whom would hit for a better average than Alonso (.240 or worse in three of the previous five seasons).
If the Mets do not land Soto, it will be difficult to repeat what the team did this year, clawing back from 11 games under .500 to push the Dodgers to six hard-fought games in the NLCS. But the Mets are worth the add to the portfolio, as these odds would shrink if Soto dons the Blue and Orange next year.
Baltimore Orioles (+1300)
Perhaps it would be wiser to invest in more American League teams than National League teams given that the NL is the much deeper league. One team that we expect to make a significant jump next year is the Orioles, who suffered too many injuries to their pitching staff to have been serious contenders in October.
Baltimore finished the regular season with 91 wins (just three games back of the AL champion Yankees), but will now get a full season from trade deadline acquisition Zach Eflin, and will have a healthy Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells back in the rotation. There is even a small chance that Kyle Bradish could return from Tommy John Surgery for a late postseason run.
Baltimore has a surplus of young talent in Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, and Coby Mayo, not to mention hard-hitting prospect Samuel Basallo, who could see time at the Major League level next year.
The Orioles have a deep enough farm system to make impactful moves at the trade deadline, and they could also make a run at free agent starting pitchers like Max Fried, Blake Snell, and Jack Flaherty.
Baltimore finished just three games back in the AL East of a Yankees team that got tremendously lucky with the health of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto all season. It would not take much of a reversal of fortune to see the Orioles crowned as AL East champions next year, while getting the advantage of a similarly easy playoff path that New York got this year leading up to the World Series.
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.