Baseball is back, baby! After a quick All-Star break, the regular season fires up again Thursday night, and if you're a sportsbook, there's one World Series matchup that's gotta be giving you serious nightmares: the Dodgers vs. the Yankees. BetMGM, and pretty much every other book, is openly rooting against that Fall Classic showdown.
The Big Market Money Magnets Are Killing the Books
You probably aren't surprised, right? These are the biggest names in baseball, and they always pull the most action on futures. The Dodgers are already sitting at +185 to three-peat, a huge jump from their opening +350 odds just months ago. They've grabbed a massive 21.9% of the handle and 11.6% of the tickets at BetMGM. The Yankees, even with Aaron Judge sidelined for weeks and not even leading the AL East, have seen their odds slash from +800 to +550 for their first title since 2009. They're second in handle with 9.1% and 9.2% of the tickets. It's clear: these two teams are absolute money magnets for the fans, which means they're a huge liability for the books. While Detroit sits third in tickets at 7.2% and Atlanta third in handle at 7.1%, they're not drawing anywhere near the action. New York is also the +225 AL Pennant favorite, leading handle with 26.4%, while the Tigers top tickets at 20.4%.MVP and Cy Young Races Are Bookie Nightmares Too
But the World Series isn't the only place BetMGM is feeling the heat. In the American League MVP race, Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. is shaping up to be a total financial hit if he wins. He's at +500 right now, but a staggering 15.6% of tickets and 15.4% of handle are riding on him. If he pulls it off, that's a massive loss for the books. Compare that to Houston's Yordan Alvarez, who opened at +2800 and is now the -160 favorite, chasing a Triple Crown by leading the AL in homers and RBI while sitting second in batting average. Alvarez winning would actually be *good* for BetMGM, with only 6.6% handle and 5.0% of tickets on him. And get this: Yankees righty Cam Schlittler, who started the year at +10000 for the AL Cy Young, is now the +115 favorite. He leads in handle with 18.9% and is second in tickets at 8.3%. Ouch. If Schlittler takes home that award, BetMGM is going to take a serious bath. Meanwhile, Detroit's Tarik Skubal, the Opening Day favorite, is now a long shot at +6000 and pretty much out of the running, even though he still leads in tickets at 9.0%.The NL is All Ohtani and Dodgers
Over in the National League, it's pretty much all Dodgers, all the time, as you might expect. They've moved from +180 to -105 to win the pennant, leading handle at 23.0% and tickets at 12.5%. And you know who is driving a huge chunk of that action? Shohei Ohtani. The guy is a phenomenon, and his presence alone makes the Dodgers' success a huge headache for the betting world, especially if he snags an MVP as the headline suggests the books are rooting against. So, with baseball firing back up, get ready for some serious drama, on the field and in the books. The rest of this season is going to be wild, especially if these trends keep up. We'll be watching how it all plays out!This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.