The MLB trade deadline passed with a flurry of trades, but not a lot of big moves. If your team was in the market for a reliever, there were plenty to be had. Impact bats and frontline starting arms were harder to come by. The deals resulted in a light shuffling of World Series winner odds as opposed to any major jumps, but it’s a good time to check in on where things stand.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are still the favorite by a decent margin. With the relatively random nature of the expanded MLB playoffs, you won’t see a team favored with minus odds against the field, but the Dodgers are squarely in front at +250. The Dodgers added outfielder Alex Call and reliever Brock Stewart to shore up the roster while sending away starter Dustin May, who was second on the team in innings.
Those moves might be noticeable come the postseason, but for now, they are relatively minor in the scope of a team built around Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Freddie Freeman and the struggling Mookie Betts, who is having the worst season of his career at the plate (.681 OPS).
The next three teams in the odds are all at +850: the New York Mets, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets were active, but again the theme is bullpen arms. Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto give the Mets a potentially scary collection of setup arms to get to Edwin DÃaz at the end of games. Plus, New York added center fielder Cedric Mullins. The Mets were one of the bigger movers, going from +1300 on Monday to +850.
The Yankees’ biggest move was, guess what, to acquire a reliever. David Bednar comes over from Pittsburgh after two All-Star appearances. Like the Mets, the Yankees added a trio of arms in Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird. The Bronx Bombers also added some depth in the lineup with outfielder Austin Slater and infielders Amed Rosario and José Caballero. Similar to the other teams listed above, these moves will be noticeable in the playoffs, but don’t move the needle a ton for now.
The Phillies stayed consistent with the theme of this trade deadline by adding closer Jhoan Durán from Minnesota. The Twins dealt away a significant chunk of their big-league roster in a major selloff, and Philadelphia was there to capitalize. The Phillies entered Friday a half-game behind the Mets in the NL East, but both are comfortably in playoff spots.
The Detroit Tigers are next in the odds at +950. Confidence in the Tigers eroded in July thanks to a stretch of 12 losses in 13 games. Detroit was third in the odds just before that losing stretch started. Thankfully for Tigers fans, they have won four in a row since and still have a sizeable lead in the AL Central. The Tigers traded for starting pitchers Chris Paddack and Charlie Morton, as well as fulfilling their obligation to add some relievers by acquiring Kyle Finnegan, Paul Sewald, Rafael Montero, Codi Heuer and Randy Dobnak. That’s a lot of new arms and could shake up a team that might’ve needed some fresh faces to reset.
Arguably the biggest name that moved before the deadline is Carlos Correa. Correa leaves Minnesota and returns to Houston, where he won the 2017 World Series, in the hopes that he will rediscover some of his previous form. The 30-year-old is on pace for arguably the worst season of his career. The Astros are 4.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners and are sixth in the odds at +1100 following the Correa deal, moving up from +1300 earlier in the week.
It’s worth noting that the team with the best record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, is further down the board at +1800. So are the Toronto Blue Jays (+1500), who share the best record in the AL with the Tigers. The betting market is showing less confidence in those teams than the standings.
2025 World Series odds
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(Photo of Shohei Ohtani: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)