AL Pennant odds, picks heading into Opening Day for 2022 MLB season

With 2022 MLB Opening Day scheduled to begin on April 8, it’s a good time to look at some futures odds for the American League pennant. Last season, the Houston Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS to win the AL pennant. To no one’s surprise, the Stros have pretty good odds to go back to the World Series this season.

But what about the rest of the American League? Below we’ll take a look at the favorites and a darkhorse to win the pennant, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

2022 American League odds

Astros +450
Blue Jays +450
Yankees +475
White Sox +500
Rays +750
Red Sox +1100
Angels +1600
Mariners +1800
Twins +2500
Tigers +2800
Rangers +5000
Guardians +5500
Royals +7000
Athletics +10000
Orioles +20000

Favorites

Houston Astros (+450) — Even though they did not re-sign Carlos Correa, who joined the Minnesota Twins on a three-year deal, the oddsmakers still like Houston to be one of the best teams in the American League. Houston re-signed Justin Verlander to a two-year deal and signed reliever Hector Neris to a two-year deal.

The Astros’ starting rotation should be one of the best and their offense should still be clicking on all cylinders without the likes of Correa. This team can still hit for power and average, which is a dangerous combination.

Toronto Blue Jays (+450) — There’s a lot of noise surrounding the Blue Jays, who have an outstanding starting rotation that features Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Hyun Jin-Ryu, and Yusei Kikuchi. Then offensively, the Jays recently added Matt Chapman to go with their core of George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Bo Bichette.

If their starters can pitch late into games and the offense plays the way they did last season, then we should see Toronto playing baseball in October. However, for that to happen, they’ll have to make it through the gauntlet known as the AL East.

Darkhorse

Boston Red Sox (+1100) — It’s hard to claim that the Red Sox are a darkhorse on paper, but they have the fifth-best odds to win the AL pennant this season. Boston made major splash in free agency, signing Trevor Story to a six-year, $140 million deal. The addition of Story at second base, gives the Red Sox an excellent infield that already has Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.

However, what could hold the Red Sox back from winning the pennant is their starting pitching. Boston will not have Chris Sale for the start of the season due to injury, which means Nathan Eovaldi will be the ace of the staff. Eovaldi had an All-Star season last year and should be able to do the same this season. But the bigger question marks is what can the Red Sox get from Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck? Those guys will need to perform for this team to make a run.

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