Odds To Win The NL Pennant: Dodgers Are The Early Favorites

We are just a few short weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, which means we aren’t long from hearing “play ball!” The Los Angeles Dodgers endured an early playoff exit last year as they fell in five games to the eventual champion Washington Nationals. However, the boys in blue are the odds-on favorites at +250 to win their third NL pennant in four years.

Online sportsbook Bovada has the Dodgers as the +250 favorites followed by the Atlanta Braves at +550, the Nationals at +600, the Philadelphia Phillies at +700, the St. Louis Cardinals at +750, the New York Mets at +900 and the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers at +1200 to round out the top teams on the oddsboard.

Here’s a look at the AL Pennant odds.

Why Are The Dodgers Favored?

In 2019, Los Angeles finished one win shy of having the best record in the majors at 106-56 and seven runs shy of having the best run differential as well. The Dodgers allowed the fewest runs in the bigs at 613, buoyed by the great arms of Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has since left to play for Toronto. And if opponents were able to bounce the starter early, they still had to face the fourth-best bullpen in the majors that posted a 3.85 ERA.

Offensively, this squad is filled top to bottom with guys who can give the ball a jolt. The Dodgers swatted the fourth-most homers in the majors last season, led by 24-year-old Cody Bellinger’s 47 round-trippers. The rotation will have a different look to it with Julio Urias and Dustin May, who combined for 12 starts in 2019, expected to be mainstays this season. That said, with the offense as scary as it is, even if the rotation struggles a bit, the team should be OK and worthy of being the NL favorite to appear in the World Series.

What Team Is Providing the Most Value?

There are a lot of talented clubs in the always competitive National League but I will go back to the team I liked last year, the St. Louis Cardinals, who are fifth on the NL pennant oddsboard at +750. The Cards won the NL Central last season and won their NLDS series over the Braves before being swept by the Nationals in the NLCS when their offense went silent. That offense was a bit of an issue for St. Louis last year, scoring the 12th-fewest runs and hitting the seventh-fewest home runs.

Regardless of the offense, though, the arms this club possesses are nothing short of impressive. With a talented young rotation and notable names in the bullpen, it should come as no surprise this team had the fifth-lowest ERA in the majors. Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson and Daniel Ponce de Leon are three starters under the age of 28 who all had sub-4.00 ERAs in 2019 so expect them to lead the charge in 2020.

For more betting information, check out our MLB Page.

Here’s a look at the full list of odds to win the 2020 World Series:

Odds as of January 11 at Bovada