MLB Playoff Race Heats Up Heading Into Final Games

• The Los Angeles Dodgers are favored to win the World Series with +350 odds.
• The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are favored with +325 odds to win the American League.
• The San Diego Padres have +425 odds to win the National League.

ARLINGTON, Texas — As the MLB season is coming to an end, the race to make the playoffs is heating up. The American League has all but one team clinched while the National League only has four of eight teams clinched with six more in the hunt.

Looking at the American League, the Houston Astros are in a position to clinch the final spot as their magic number is just 1 heading into their final three-game series as they are ahead of the next best team by three games.

As long as they can pull off two wins against the Texas Rangers who are one of the worst teams in the league, they should be clinching.

As for the National League, the six teams that are in contention to clinch the final four spots are the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Milwaukee Brewers.

Heading into the final series, the Brewers will be taking on the Cardinals in which the winner of the series will likely move on and clinch being that their magic numbers are 4.

The Phillies will be taking on the Rays who are set to clinch the first seed of the National League and The Giants will be taking on the Padres who are closing in on second place in the American League which could put a huge damper on the Giants magic number which is also 4.

Where things get interesting is if the Padres and Rays win their series over the Giants and Phillies, they would knock them out of the playoff hunt clearing up the four teams.

MLB Futures Odds

Online sportsbooks have different futures odds ahead of the playoffs that are likely to shift as the playoffs go on.

Looking at the MLB odds to win the American League, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are tied at +325 to win.

There is no doubt that the Rays are deserving of the top spot to win the American League as they hold the top record in the league, but the Yankees are five games behind them. Bettors here can look at a longshot opportunity in this case such as the Twins as they hold the second-best record with odds that offer a huge payout.

As for the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers are seen as heavier favorites to walk away as the National League Champions with +135 odds at online sportsbooks.

The Dodgers are the clear favorites here as they hold the best record in the National League and have clinched the best record as they are ahead of the next best team by 5.5 games. The Padres, however, could give them a serious run for their money as they won six out of ten regular-season games that they played against the Dodgers and offer a nice payout at that as well.

Moving on to the odds to win the World Series, the LA Dodgers rightfully lead the way at +350 odds to win the World Series.

The Dodgers are clearly the favorites as not only do they have the best record in the National League, but they hold the best record in the MLB at that.

The World Series should be considered the Dodgers to lose. As for some teams that could take that away from them, the Padres are one of those teams as mentioned before as well as the Rays as they hold the nest record in the American League and the Minnesota Twins as well being that they are two games out of the top spot in the American League.

The MLB Playoffs are set to begin on Monday, October 5.