Dodgers, Astros Own Highest 2018 Season Win Total In MLB

Spring training is nearing its end and with the MLB regular season starting soon, bettors are beginning to turn one eye toward the dog days of summer. The first sign that the days of peanuts and Cracker Jacks are fast approaching is the release of MLB season win totals.

If these win totals are any indication, then the top spot in the league will be a battle between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros. Both squads have a win total set at 96.5, the highest in all of baseball. This high win total is about par for the course for the Dodgers – who have routinely dominated during the regular season – but it is a sizable leap for the Astros, who opened last season at 89.5.

The Dodgers did not exactly have the sexiest of winters, with a few minor moves in the bullpen highlighting their transactions. It’s not as though the Dodgers needed to change much after the team won 104 regular-season games and made it to the World Series. The Dodgers accomplished all this despite being just better than the league average at the plate in most categories. Of course, you don’t need to be the best offensive team in baseball when your pitching staff posts a collective 3.38 ERA with opponents batting just .228.

Of course, the Astros took down the Dodgers in an epic seven-game World Series last season. The Astros will look largely the same this season as they did last year – a season in which they recorded triple-digit wins for the first time since 1998 – but may have an even better rotation of pitchers. Houston added Gerrit Cole to be its third starter. Yes, a 27-year-old who has posted a career 3.50 ERA and 8.4 K/9 will be the ’Stros third pitcher. That’s how good the Houston starting rotation should be.

Oddsmakers are expecting a lack of parity this upcoming season with nine teams having a season win total of 90 or higher while 10 teams are being listed at 75 or lower.

Unsurprisingly, the lowest number belongs to the garbage fire that is the Miami Marlins (64.5). That is the lowest posted win total for any team over the past three years with the previous lowest belonging to the 2016 Philadelphia Phillies. Considering that Phillies team gave a 36-year-old Ryan Howard over 330 plate appearances and had Jeremy Hellickson as one of its best pitchers, you can tell oddsmakers don’t think highly of this incarnation of the Marlins.

Click here to view our best bets for all 30 MLB teams.

*All odds courtesy of Bovada