With the Major League Baseball trade deadline arriving this week, people were patiently waiting to see what would happen with one of the best players in the game: Juan Soto. Now, the Padres World Series odds skyrocketed after trading for Juan Soto, as they’re now among the favorites to win the National League. Will the Padres be able to get over the hump here?
That’s what everyone is wondering, as Soto is without question one of the best players in the game. Soto is a threat to hit a homer whenever he is up at the dish and fans can’t wait to see what he’ll be able to get done now that he’ll be playing with the Padres. San Diego’s lineup is now loaded, as they also feature Manny Machado and then things will get even better when Fernando Tatis Jr. returns from his injury. We’ve added the best odds from a range of MLB online betting sites below.
What makes things even better here for the Padres is that the Los Angeles Dodgers were also reportedly aggressively trying to land Soto from Washington. Had Soto joined their lineup, then it would have been a nightmare for the rest of the league to deal with. Luckily, that didn’t go down and the Padres were able to come out on top of this battle for Soto.
According to the top-tier online sportsbooks, the Padres now have +480 MLB odds to win the NL. This is quite a strong improvement from where things were before the Soto deal. The Padres now have the No. 3 NL odds, standing behind the Dodgers and Mets. The Padres are ahead of the Braves, though. While this is exciting for San Diego, that doesn’t mean they’ll prove to win the NL.
Dodgers remain the top favorites to win the NL and move on to the World Series
What’s important to remember right now, though, is that the Dodgers remain the top favorites to win the NL and move on to the World Series. Despite the Padres adding a player like Soto, this doesn’t mean that they’re just going to be able to leap Los Angeles with the drop of a hat. Instead, the Dodgers are still loaded and they’re actually our pick to win the NL.
The Padres may not even get to the NLCS, as people think the New York Mets will move on to take on the Dodgers in that series. However, you never know how things might shape out here once the postseason does arrive. Regardless of that, LA should be on their way to the NLCS and try and get back to the World Series once again. LA would then move on to potentially play the Yankees in the World Series.
That’d be an unreal series and one that people are hoping goes down. The Yankees have the top World Series odds right now and they continue to be sharp. Aaron Judge is in the middle of another unreal year, with the best rated sportsbooks also having him as the No. 1 option to win AL MVP. It’d be a stunner if Judge didn’t take home that honor this season.
Should the Dodgers and Yankees meet in the World Series, it’d really be a matchup to remember. The Padres and others will be ready to do whatever is needed to make sure that doesn’t happen. Only time will tell what ends up happening, but the fact of the matter is that the Padres are a much better team now. Even though we like the Dodgers to win the NL, we expect San Diego to make a ton of noise the rest of the way.
Elsewhere, don’t forget that the Astros are hoping to make a splash in the AL. Houston, always a threat to get to the World Series thanks to their loaded lineup, holds the second-best odds to win the American League right now, as they’re right behind the Yankees. New York has +125 odds to win the AL, while the Astros are indeed No. 2 at +175, which is fun to see.
Plain and simple, these two teams don’t like one another. No one has forgotten about Houston cheating their way to the World Series in 2017. That season, Houston took down the Yankees in the ALCS. On top of that, Jose Altuve also won AL MVP over Aaron Judge. As soon as it was revealed that the Astros were cheating, the Yankees players, coaches and fans were disgusted.
If these two teams meet in the ALCS, similar to the Dodgers and Mets meeting in the NLCS, it’ll surely be a matchup to remember. There’s a lot of drama here and New York will be hungry to get some revenge. Judge would love to hit some massive homers in this one too, which would make things sweeter for him. We’ll see if New York and Houston ends up going to battle against one another this fall.
With a background as a writer, Rodrigo has managed to bring together his hobbies and education writing sports content for various top-tier sites around the world.