Oct 30, 2019 2:15 p.m. ET: A day after winning $456,142 on the Astros winning Game 3 of the World Series, “Mattress Mack” flew from Washington D.C. To New Jersey to place another six-figure bet. This time, the Houston furniture store owner plopped down $300,000 on Houston at +100 odds to win Game 4. The latest Atlanta team stats, MLB Futures & Specials, including Vegas Odds the Braves Winning the MLB World Series, Atlanta MLB News & other info on the Atlanta Braves. So what are you waiting for Signup and Bet on the Atlanta Braves Today! Braves vs Mets – 2020 MLB Expert Analysis. In baseball, betting on the moneyline is simply betting on who will win the game. For example if the moneyline has St. Louis at +150 and Cincinnati at -170, Cincinnati is the favored team and you would need to bet $170 just to win $100. If you place a $100 bet on St. Louis and they pull off a win, you would win $150. Legality comes in two flavors with MLB World Series betting. In the 20 or so US states that now offer domestic sports betting, you can use a local brick-and-mortar or online sportsbook service to legally wager on MLB action and find the latest World Series betting odds.
The 2020 World Series is finally here. It feels like forever ago that the 2020 MLB season was put on hiatus due to a global pandemic.
Fast forward to a shortened season that was almost interrupted by a COVID-19 outbreak, and it’s easy to say few people ever thought we’d actually get here.
Even crazier? The literal path to the 2020 World Series when you consider this matchup.
Tampa Bay had a 3-0 series lead in the ALCS and almost blew it. They survived a game seven against the Astros to return to the World Series for the second time ever.
It was the opposite on the other side. The favored Dodgers fell behind 3-1 against the Braves. They battled back, forcing a game seven and then prevailing, punching their ticket to the big show for the third time in four years.
It’s been an unconventional journey through these playoffs, but the World Series is finally here on Tuesday, October 20th, with the Rays and Dodgers preparing to battle.
2020 World Series betting can finally commence.
For tips on how and where to bet on the 2020 World Series, read on.
Betting on the World Series is unique every single season. No matter what the matchup is, of course, the main focus for sports bettors should always be to have a safe, enjoyable experience.
Well, and also to win money.
To maximize that aspect, though, you want safe World Series betting sites that you can trust. Ideally, they also offer elite customer service, have a variety of World Series prop bets, and competitive odds.
Having great World Series promotions, welcome bonuses, and positive reviews all play into where you should bet on the World Series, in 2020 and really any year.
The above World Series betting websites should check all of those boxes, and more. Which sites you should bet on can also differ depending on which team you like, so be sure to shop around for the best possible pricing.
- Rays to Win Series (+175)
- Dodgers to Win Series (-205)
- Rays to Win Game One (+152)
- Dodgers to Win Game One (-165)
How To Place A Bet On The World Series Season
The 2020 World Series wasn’t official until very late on Sunday night, and some of the online betting sites have yet to release official odds.
BetOnline is one sportsbook that does have odds up, as you see above. The Rays come in as considerable underdogs, despite having a pretty good resume.
The Rays not only finished with the second most wins in the majors in 2020, but they took out two powerful offenses in the Yankees and Astros.
Tampa Bay’s pitching and timely hitting makes them extremely dangerous, while their +175 series price is obviously pretty tempting. I’d shop around once more sites drop odds, and I’d also be interested to see alternative lines, but that’s a pretty nice price.
The Dodgers are the understandable favorites. They haven’t been able to cash in on that in the past, but they ended the year with the best record in baseball, and they just took out a very good Braves team.
You can see odds for the 2020 World Series, both for the series itself, and for game one. The pricing is obviously different, but you can get a little more bang for your buck if you just bet on L.A. on a per-game basis, compared to the series price.
World Series props, player props, and so much more should follow, while you should also be able to bet on who will win the World Series MVP award at some point.
For now, betting on the Rays on an individual game basis is not a bad idea, but the Dodgers at -205 to end the year as champions stands out as the safest bet to make.
This isn’t really that shocking of a World Series matchup. I mean, it is in the sense that before the 2020 MLB season began, the Rays weren’t favored to get here.
They were still on everyone’s radar, as they snuck into the playoffs on the heels of stellar pitching, terrific management, and 96 wins in 2019. But in a division with the New York Yankees and a league where you have to get past the Houston Astros, betting on the Rays to win the World Series still felt like a pipedream.
It shouldn’t have felt weird once the season started, though, as Tampa Bay marched to the second best record in baseball.
L.A. was always supposed to be here. They’ve been a title favorite since last season ended, and the narrative of “unfinished business” rages on with this team reaching the final series of the year for the third time in four seasons.
Despite having all of the bats and stellar pitching – and ending the season with baseball’s best record – the Dodgers were really up against it in the NLCS. They weathered the storm, however, and now they’re here to claim what they believe is rightfully theirs.
With that, here’s a quick look at why each team can win the 2020 World Series.
Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay did what they were supposed to. They held their ground, they knocked out the Yankees and Astros, and now they’re here to deny the Dodgers of the holy grail.
Fundamentally, the Rays can totally do that.
They have elite starting pitching with Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and Charlie Morton leading the charge. But whether or not their aces come through, they have one of the best bullpens in the league, and it’s stepped up in a big way in the tensest of moments.
And let’s not ignore their defense, which has dropped instantly memorable plays in these playoffs.
Tampa Bay’s offense isn’t the most reliable bunch. They certainly come up big in the clutch, as evidenced by this awesome long ball from Mike Brosseau that sent the Rays to the ALCS in the first place.
MIKE BROSSEAU TAKES CHAPMAN DEEP AND THE RAYS TAKE THE LEAD ?
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 10, 2020
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/oU3MbLk2Ow
But when they battled the Astros in this last series, their sticks worked their way to more than four runs just once. In contrast, they’re going up against a Dodgers lineup that did that three times in the NLCS.
Tampa Bay has the pitching, from top to bottom, to control games, manage them, and squeeze out wins. It’s quite arguable they do not have the bats to win shootouts, however, and it’s worth wondering if they’ll generate enough offense consistently to win even when their arms do their job.
That said, the Rays have won and can win with defense.
They have the pitching to silence even the mightiest of bats. If their offense can chime in at the right times, they have the potential to deny the Dodgers once more.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Rays have excellent pitching and stellar defense. But the Dodgers have a pretty wide advantage offensively. Just go look at the season hitting stats for these teams.
L.A. is known mostly for their power and ability to score in bunches, but they also boasted the league’s 10th best batting average. Tampa Bay was 22nd.
The Dodgers also cranked out the 8th most hits per game. The Rays ranked 21st. L.A. was also quite good in terms of discipline at the plate (5th fewest strikeouts), while Tampa Bay finished (gulp) dead last.
Offensively, the Rays were actually 10th in home runs per game. The Dodgers, meanwhile, were first.
In every meaningful hitting category, the Dodgers have the edge.
Their lefties can murder even the best of right-handed pitchers. And when Snell and other southpaws toe the rubber, Los Angeles still has guys like Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor, A.J. Pollock, Justin Turner, Will Smith, and of course Mookie Betts, to make them pay.
And I’m not even talking about their lefties who can still knock lefties around, too.
L.A. is just full-blown stacked at the plate. If this series gets beyond the arms and comes down to the sticks, it’ll be over in a hurry. And frankly, the Dodgers don’t necessarily need to smack a bunch of home runs to win.
They proved that in the NLCS. The Braves proved to be quite the tough out, yet the Dodgers won their last two games despite scoring just seven total runs.
Los Angeles is more experienced. They’re deeper. They have more star power. And they can match Tampa Bay’s main strength.
Yes, Clayton Kershaw hasn’t lived up to his name in the playoffs, but what better time than now?
'I can't put all the blame on [Clayton Kershaw], but it's not a coincidence that he struggles in the postseason. This is habit forming here for him.'
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) October 16, 2020
DP reacts to last night's Dodgers loss. pic.twitter.com/56ICzKAM2P
The skeptics assume he’ll fail, but this is still one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history. He has to come up big at some point, right?
Tampa Bay is probably the fun underdog to root for here, and certainly that will be the case from a betting perspective. But the Dodgers are the better team, and they also have the narrative of “finally getting one” in their favor.
This just feels like the year of the Dodgers at this point. Maybe the Rays make them work for it, but L.A. is the better team. If you’re looking for a bet when it comes to the series itself, L.A. is the way to go.
World Series Betting Tips for 2020
Every single World Series matchup is different. That understandably impacts how you bet on the World Series each year, so while there are World Series betting tips you can go to, you do need to start over with each new series.
Based on how things have gone throughout the sports betting season, we can probably assume something weird takes place in the biggest baseball series of the year, too.
You should brace for that, but we still want to lean on classic World Series betting tips.
- Study Pitching
- Consider Experience and Management
- Note Hitting Stats & Splits
- Track Injuries and Lineups
- Factor in World Series Odds
- Game/Series Location
There is much more that goes into betting on the World Series before the season even starts, but now this is a pretty good place to start.
The number one thing to consider before placing bets is pitching. Most people can be swayed by the starting pitching (and that’s still very important), but you should know as much as you can about the bullpens, how they’re utilized and how they perform.
On top of that, going back and researching how managers make decisions throughout games, how they use players, when they sub people out – the list goes on – can help you decide how to bet.
There are other obvious things like monitoring player injuries, roster moves, injuries, and the final starting lineups for each game. For instance, Adam Duvall is ineligible to play in this series thanks to an injury.
Especially when looking at single games independently, you’ll want to restart your research each time.
If you’re just betting on the series winner, you’ll have to consider each team’s regular season, their playoff run, and how the matchups compare.
Don’t forget to shop around for the best World Series odds, whether you’re just looking for a better price on a bet you like, or you just want to see how everyone is pricing things.
How Do I Place A Bet On The World Series
Game location will usually be a big deal for each game and the series as a whole, when you consider “home field” advantage. That won’t really be the case in 2020, as the entire series will be played in Arlington.
How To Place A Bet On The World Series On Netflix
In a sense, that’s halfway between L.A. and Tampa Bay, so it’s unclear what that will mean. Both teams have largely been playing at neutral sites in the playoffs, but we can factor in neutral site performance, as well as how teams fared on the road.
For this matchup some quick-hitting talking points to chew on.
- Rays Ranked 11th in Fielding Percentage
- Dodgers ranked 1st in Home Runs (hitting)
- Rays ranked 6th in Stolen Bases
- Rays ranked 1st in Strikeouts (hitting)
- Rays ranked 2nd in walks (hitting)
- Rays ranked 6th in strikeouts (pitching)
- Both were Top 5 in fewest walks allowed (pitching)
In isolation, this really just tells us little nuggets about how these teams did during the regular season. However, it suggests the Rays are a sound defensive team, and a volatile team at the plate.
L.A. has the edge in the power department, and they’re also quite lethal when it comes to their pitching. This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course.
For betting on the 2020 World Series specifically, you’ll want to consider whatever data you can get your hands on, the latest World Series odds, and my prediction as to who will win the 2020 World Series.
But successfully betting on the World Series isn’t just about listening to one betting analyst, and it certainly isn’t about locating odds at a handful of World Series betting websites.
Beyond everything I’ve just said, you’ll always want to keep an open mind with any kind of baseball betting, and the World Series is no exception. Heck, after the wild ride the 2020 MLB playoffs just took us on, we need to keep our betting heads on a swivel.
How To Place A Bet On The World Series
For a little extra insight for every single game, be sure to check out our detailed World Series betting previews in our MLB picks section. Our MLB betting experts will walk you through each game and guide you to the best bet each time.
Betting on the 2020 World Series doesn’t have to be hard. If you pick the right World Series betting sites, listen to the right advice, and trust your gut, you should come out with some profit.
If you’re betting on who will win the 2020 World Series, I don’t see much of a way around the Dodgers. They’re stacked, they just completed an insane comeback, and it really feels like this is their year.
How To Place A Bet On The World Series Winner
As for individual games, you can play the pricing game, you can consider momentum in the series, and you can try to trust pitcher matchups to a certain degree.
How To Place A Bet On The World Series Won
At the end of the day, World Series betting is great for two things; enjoying baseball at a championship level, and making some extra cash.
Hopefully this World Series betting guide helps put you down a path of success for this year’s title series. Good luck with your bets, and enjoy the games!