The Dodgers just beat the New York Yankees for the 2024 World Series, but we’re already thinking ahead to 2025 and the betting futures available for next season. You’ll want to keep reading for fun, possibly lucrative predictions on what unfolds during the 2025 MLB campaign.
What: 2025 MLB Futures
When: MLB season starts on March 18
2025 MLB Future Picks
One thing before we give out 2025 MLB betting picks: keep the bets light. Light because a lot is going to happen from now until the start of the season, namely the offseason. Free agency will reshape teams, and there might even be some trades. It’s best to let the offseason play out before betting with size. Still, we’re gamblers and couldn’t help ourselves with these three early-bird picks:
Where Does Juan Soto Play In 2025?
The biggest free agent in all of baseball? That would be Soto, who cleaned up for the Yankees last season to the tune of a .288 batting average with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs. The best MLB betting sites have odds out on where Soto is most likely to end up on day 1 of the next season. Here are the betting favorites:
There’s a host of Soto-related future bets out right now. The over/under on the size of his contract is being pegged at $625 million, which is a fun bet in of itself. But we’re most confident in just picking where Soto ends up. To us, it’s New York — the question is, the Mets or the Yankees?
Soto played one season for the Yankees and was obviously a smashing success. He formed a killer one-two punch with Aaron Judge and obviously got close to a World Series ring — which would’ve been Soto’s second as he won in 2019 with Washington.
But we’ll be honest, we think Soto wants to go to the highest bidder — hence why he turned down a $400-plus-million deal before. If that’s the case, Mets owner Steve Cohen is more likely to open the checkbook. Cohen wants to win at all costs, and Soto might just be the team’s missing piece after a NLCS run in their own right. Our money is on the Mets to take him.
2025 AL Pennant Winner
The AL feels awfully wide open going into 2025. Right now; only three teams have odds under +1000 to take the league — the AL has five by comparison. Here are the betting favorites in the AL:
We’re skipping a bet on the Yankees here because of what we already said about Soto. If he leaves the franchise, then this New York team isn’t all that different from the one that won a measly 82 games in 2023 before he arrived. Seriously, that’s how big of a difference-maker Soto was this season for the Bronx Bombers.
If not the Yankees, then who? Our gut says their division rivals, the Orioles. After getting off to a sizzling hot start, Baltimore floundered down the stretch — going 33-33 and flaming out in the wildcard round. But this is still a super young team, who can only learn from the collapse. The O’s have young stars up and down the roster — from Gunnar Henderson to Grayson Rodriguez. This youth gives us confidence Baltimore can improve and take the next step in 2025.
2025 NL Pennant Winner
We move on to the National League. Zero surprise which team is the odds-on favorite to win the NL as it’s the defending World Series champions. Here’s the full list of MLB odds in the NFL
We’re not going to overthink this bet one bit. It almost HAS to be the Dodgers here if you’re only picking one team. Here’s a team that’s won their division each year but once since 2013. This past campaign though was the year they finally “exorcised the demons” of past playoff collapses and won the big one (not including the pandemic-era title).
Here’s why we’re super bullish on the Dodgers next season: pitching. Somehow, someway LA won the most games (98) and the Fall Classic with a battered pitching staff. They used 17 starting pitchers throughout the course of the season. Of those 17, only two threw more than 100 innings. No way their case of injuries and bad luck will strike the pitching staff again, right?
Not only that, but remember, Shohei Ohtani is expected to be available to pitch in 2025 after sitting out 2024 from mound duties. He still won the MVP as a hitter only, but imagine how good LA can be with another Cy Yung pitcher to lean on? Don’t get cute and just back the Dodgers here.
How To Bet On MLB Futures?
There are plenty of more MLB futures bets out there. For a complete list of bets available, hit one of the below betting sites. Las Vegas-based odds will fluctuate as time passes this offseason — based on news and signings — but these sites will keep things up to date.
Eric was born and raised in Nevada — the center of gambling in the United States. Throw in his natural interest in sports, and Eric was destined to be a sports bettor.
This came to a head once Eric turned 21. Already a working sports journalist while in college, Eric began betting at his local sportsbook. Despite massive losses (at first), Eric continued to chip away at wagering. Eventually, he got half-decent at it.
Now Eric is a trusted betting analyst. Not only is he skilled at making picks, but also breaking down the state of the industry — legalization, revenue, and innovation.