Betting on World Series futures

Futures markets offer odds on events and markets that cannot be settled until a specific future date, often at the end of the season. There are futures markets available for the World Series every year that you can bet on both before and during the campaign. Their odds can change massively during the season depending on the performances of certain teams and players.

Sportsbooks offer World Series futures odds for every one of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) to win that year’s World Series, based on the perceived likelihood of each team doing so. For example, a broad favourite like the New York Yankees may start the season with +250 odds to win the World Series, while a perceived underdog like the Baltimore Orioles will likely have longer odds in the region of +4000 to +5000. However, if the Yankees had a particularly poor start to the season or the Orioles enjoyed a winning start, these odds will likely change.

Every team is given a positive betting value in the World Series winner futures market, seeing as not even the best teams are favoured enough to warrant being given a negative betting value. Remember that World Series futures markets often have more than one favourite, and more favourites means more appealing odds for sports bettors due to the level of competition.

Other futures available for the World Series include betting on which player will win World Series MVP and how many games there will be in the World Series itself.

The most popular World Series futures market is the World Series winner. This refers to wagering on a particular MLB team to win the World Series championship outright. For example, if you were to place a futures bet on the Toronto Blue Jays to win the World Series, your bet will win simply if they become MLB champions. Their results during the regular season and rest of the playoffs, and scores of individual games during the World Series, are irrelevant.

Remember that it’s important to stay patient while sitting on a World Series winner futures bet. For example, you may place a World Series winner futures bet on the Toronto Blue Jays in the preseason and they have now won the first two games of the World Series finals. Many sportsbooks will offer a cash out option for your bet, meaning you can usually take home a portion of what your final payout for a winning bet would be. The only risk is that you withdraw it early, which could prove costly if your bet ends up winning in the end.

World Series number of games futures are somewhat an extension of World Series winner futures, with the added feature that you are also betting on how many games a team will win the World Series in. The minimum number of games that the World Series can be won in is four, given that it’s a best-of-seven series.

The odds for World Series number of games futures are often posted later during the season than World Series winners futures. Bettors often opt to wait and see how certain teams look in the MLB playoffs before wagering on a market such as this that requires precise predictions.