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How Likely Are Vegas Sportsbook MLB Preseason Futures Odds to Predict World Series Winners?

The month of October along with its premiere sporting event – the MLB World Series – are slipping into the past as we approach Thanksgiving Football, college bowl season and eventually Super Bowl XLVIII in New York later in February. Baseball fans will have to wait just shy of a year to get another taste of the great MLB pennant chase, and to see if their picks pay off in next season’s round of MLB futures betting.

2014 MLB Futures odds are now available at your favorite Vegas sportsbooks like Caesar’s Palace or the MGM Grand, but if you don’t have a trip planned to Sin City anytime soon and want to get in on the preseason odds action, online sportsbooks have posted their MLB Futures odds as well. Take a look at online sportsbook review sites like SportsBookNation.com and see where you prefer to wager.

Some bettors might be wondering if the offseason is the best time to plan their trip to Vegas to place their MLB bets. A closer look into preseason futures odds will tell you that they’re not exactly an accurate depiction of how the pennant race is going to shape up come next fall.

Since 2006, the futures favorite going into the season has never won the MLB World Series. Only twice has the odds-on runner-up won the championship pennant: the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and the New York Yankees in 2009.

Since that same 2006 season, the biggest pay out for an MLB futures bet would have been on the San Francisco Giants in 2010 and the Boston Red Sox just this past season in 2013. Both teams were priced at 30-1 odds of winning it all in the October Classic before the season began.

This year’s odds on favorite as of the month of November, just weeks after the Red Sox won, are the Los Angeles Dodgers at 5-1, followed closely by the Washington Nationals and the Detroit Tigers at 8-1. After those teams comes the team that Boston actually beat to win – the St. Louis Cardinals priced at 10-1 – and finally the reigning champion Red Sox at 12-1.

Interesting as of now is Prince Fielder’s new squad, the Texas Rangers, who he was traded to this past week. They are priced at 14-1 to win it all, and the former Tigers slugger should give their batting order an added boost for the 2014 season.

All in all, it might be wise to shop and around and place your bets with teams that could pay out well come next October, or to wait and see how some teams perform over the first weeks or months of the season, and then plan your trip to Vegas. Recent years have shown that the World Series winner is a tough one to predict.