It’s time.
Players have reported to camps in Florida and Arizona and have been working out with their squads for the better part of the past week. Now, on Friday afternoon, real Spring Training baseball games will be taking place. If you close your eyes and take a deep breath in from your nose, you might just be able to smell fresh cut grass and roasted peanuts. MLB is back, people!
With the return of baseball is the return of MLB betting on the DraftKings Sportsbook. There are already a plethora of things to wager on, including playoff odds, win totals and even home run leaders. However, for this specific article, we’ll be focusing on World Series odds. Will the Dodgers repeat again? Or do some team have a chance at toppling the dynasty?
Let’s break down the market and make a few picks.
2026 World Series Odds on DraftKings Sportsbook
Seattle Mariners (+1300)
Both the NL and the AL have a clear betting favorite with the Dodgers (+230) and the Yankees (+1000). After that, there’s a glut of seven teams with World Series odds in the mid-teens. To me, the Mariners are rightfully sitting atop that grouping — though there’s a real case to be made that they should have shorter odds than their foes in New York. It just comes down to likely having a path with far less resistance. The Yankees inhabit arguably the toughest division in North American sports, while Seattle will be fighting for the AL West crown with the Astros and the Rangers, two teams that are nowhere near as strong as they were back as recently as 2023. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the M’s who are more assured of a first-round bye in the postseason.
The Mariners have also had a very tidy offseason. The franchise experienced heartbreak last October when, just eight outs from the World Series, George Springer hit a three-run home run in Game 7 of the ALCS. Yet, Seattle hasn’t buried its head in the sand after the defeat. Instead, the team immediately went out and spent $92.5 million to keep Josh Naylor in a Mariners uniform. Then, Seattle used it’s farm system depth to acquire Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals and Jose Ferrer from the Nationals. Donovan is a Swiss army knife of a player that seems to be able to roll out of bed and manage a .280 batting average and a 115 wRC+. He also sported a 95th percentile whiff rate in 2025 (13.4%), which should help balance a Mariners lineup that struck out far too much last season. Meanwhile, Ferrer is a left-handed reliever with closing experience that can touch triple-digits on the radar gun. Need I say more?
As always, Seattle will be carried by it’s home-grown rotation, with Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert all capable of starting Game 1 of a playoff series. That’s not to mention rock-solid veteran Luis Castillo or Bryce Miller. The latter struggled after returning from injury to begin last season, yet Miller reminded everyone of the upside he possesses in the postseason, registering a 2.51 ERA across his 14.1 innings of work. Speaking of upside, the Mariners could also receive a boost in 2026 in the form of either Cole Young or Colt Emerson. Young struggled in his 257 plate appearances in his rookie campaign, yet the former first-round pick is still just 22-years-old. Emerson should also be given an opportunity to make this 26-man roster out of camp. Ranked as the ninth-overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, the 20-year-old could fit perfectly into the infield void of either Eugenio Suarez or Jorge Polanco.
Baltimore Orioles (+2200)
I’ve already written about the Orioles this winter, taking the over on the team’s win total of 84.5 games — which has moved to 85.5, by the way. In that pick, I mentioned the willingness of owner David Rubenstein to throw around some cash this offseason. At the time, I thought Baltimore might be perfectly suited to sign Framber Valdez. That did not happen, but the Orioles at least brought in veteran Chris Bassitt to round out a rotation that has loads more depth than it did in 2025. It’s a starting pitching group that also possesses more ceiling, particularly if Kyle Bradish and Shane Baz can stay healthy and flirt with 30 starts apiece.
Poor pitching was the main reason Baltimore won only 75 contests last year, as the squad’s 4.62 ERA ranked 26th in MLB, besting just the Athletics, the Angels, the Rockies and the Nationals. Still, on the offensive side of things, the core of this roster remains quite similar to the teams that won 101 games in 2023 and 91 games in 2024. In all honesty, it might actually be better. The Orioles have added Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward heading into 2026, injecting 74 home runs to a lineup already teeming with potential. A new crop of highly touted prospects are also ready to contribute at the MLB level, with Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo set to take on everyday roles alongside Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman (and Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, once they return from early-season ailments).
The other thing to consider when projecting the Orioles over the next eight months is that this roster doesn’t quite seem like a finished product. There’s a trade still to be made here, whether it’s during Spring Training, or at the deadline. With the aforementioned Alonso and Basallo tying up first base and DH, there’s seemingly no need on this roster for Ryan Mountcastle or Coby Mayo — and that’s to say nothing of Tyler O’Neill and his hefty contract. It’s unclear if Mayo alone would still have enough prospect sheen to net a top-end starter or bullpen arm, but in general, Baltimore has a strong system that will be capable of getting things done.
Pittsburgh Pirates (+10000)
Look, I know this is insane. I don’t have to be told that. Maybe I’m trying to grab your attention with the 100/1 odds, when what I should really be doing is promoting a bet for the Pirates to make the playoffs at +425 or the Pirates to win the NL Central at +800. Either way, my main thesis remains the same: Pittsburgh had a decent offseason and I think the team might be able to surprise some people in 2026. In all seriousness, what’s stopping this club from being this year’s Tigers? A team that rides one dominant starter (Paul Skenes) and a bunch of properly utilized platoons to something around an 87-win campaign? I mean, are the Pirates really that far away from the Reds (+4000)? That gap in odds seems ludicrous.
Here’s what we know. In 2025, the Pirates only had one player with at least 400 plate appearances finish with a wRC+ above 100. That was Spencer Horwitz, who slashed .272/.353/.434 with a 119 wRC+ after missing the first month of the season due to a Spring Training surgery. So, Pittsburgh set out this winter to strengthen a positional player group that almost couldn’t be any worse. Step one was trading for Brandon Lowe, who hit 31 home runs last season playing half is contests in what was, to be fair, a minor league ball park in Tampa. Still, Lowe has a career .234 ISO and 123 wRC+. Next was signing the likes of Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna, two players best suited to play DH, yet two players who have posted at least a 120 wRC+ since the beginning of 2023. Is the 35-year-old Ozuna in the final stretch of his playing days? Of course. However, his .354 expected wOBA in a “down” campaign still would have easily been the best mark on the Pirates in 2025. Add in the possibility of bounce-back seasons from Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz, and dare I say, this lineup is actually starting to look reasonably deep.
Truth be told, Pittsburgh really only needs league-average run production to be successful. That’s how much pitching this organization possesses. Obviously, the conversation starts with Skenes and his career 1.96 ERA; yet do not overlook the likes of Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington, who are all MLB ready and bursting at the seams with potential and talent. Let’s also not forget about two very important names that might not even break camp with the team: Jared Jones and Konnor Griffin. The former is a flame-throwing RHP that turned heads in his rookie campaign in 2024 before needing internal brace surgery last May. The latter is the 19-year-old No. 1 prospect in baseball who some scouting publications are grading as the most tantalizing youngster in years. If Jones and Griffin are on this roster by the middle of June, the Pirates suddenly have more talent at the big league level than the organization has had in at least a decade. They’re a dark horse to keep an eye on.
