And then there were four. After a unique Wild Card Weekend, followed by some huge matchups in the respective Division Series, we are now down to the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, and Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series hunt. This piece has our MLB picks for the 2022 ALCS and NLCS. Which teams will move on to the Fall Classic?
As you might have guessed, the Astros are favored over the Yankees in the ALCS when they two meet. This is the series that everyone has been hoping for, as there’s some serious bad blood between these two teams, which stems from their 2017 matchup. No one has forgotten about the sign-stealing scandal that year, which helped the Astros win.
With the Yankees, they went a full five games in the ALDS going up against the Cleveland Guardians, locking things down in the Bronx on Tuesday night. In that win, both Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge went yard for the Bronx Bombers, which of course was amazing to see. The pressure will be on both of these guys to step up vs. Houston, which won’t be easy.
| ALCS odds |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astros to win | -125 | -125 | -125 | -125 |
| Yankees to win | +145 | +145 | +145 | +145 |
| Over 6 games | -110 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
| Under 6 games | -110 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
Meanwhile, for the Astros, this team dominated in the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners, recording a 3-0 sweep over their AL West rivals. Now, Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman will need to keep things rocking once again, this time against the Yankees. Trust us, folks – this will be a sensational series, and people are fired up for Game 1 to arrive.
According to the best-rated sportsbooks, which includes the reliable Bovada review, the Astros are indeed the favorites with their -125 MLB betting odds. As for the Yankees, they’ve been placed at +145. This will be a fun matchup, and we can’t wait to see how things play out. In the end, though, we think Houston will be the one to move on to the World Series. That’s right, Houston is our pick for the ALCS.
Conversely, the Padres vs. Phillies in the NLCS will be a thriller. Both of these teams are pretty evenly matched up, and they’re both loaded with star power. These squads weren’t expected to make it thus far either, as they recorded some monster upsets in the NLDS. Who could have guessed that Philly and San Diego would make it this far?
Starting with the Phillies, this team took down the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card Round, setting up an NLDS matchup with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves won the World Series last year, and they were poised to keep things going this year too. Philly had other ideas, though, as they could take down the reigning champs and do so in impressive fashion.
With the Padres, goodness me, San Diego posted the upset of the year in the NLDS vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers had the top World Series betting odds for a while, with the expectation that they’d win the NLCS and then go on to try and win another title. However, San Diego took them down, with Joe Musgrove, Juan Soto, and Manny Machado stepping up.
Per the oddsmakers, the Padres are slight favorites over the Phillies with their -120 odds. Philly has been placed at +100. This one could go either way, as both teams know what it takes to move on. We could see this game going six or even seven games. Picking a winner is hard, but we’re going with the Padres as our pick to win the NLCS.
With the Dodgers being out of the mix, the Astros are the new favorites to win the World Series. Houston has seen it’s Las Vegas betting odds improve for the Fall Classic in recent weeks, and now that the Dodgers are eliminated, Houston has what it takes to win another title. While the Yankees will give them all they can handle in the ALCS, we think they’ll be able to move on.
Then, will either the Phillies or Padres be able to stun Houston in a potential World Series matchup? That seems like it will be far too talk of a task. However, you just never know what might happen. About two weeks ago, countless fans assumed that the Dodgers would walk their way to the World Series and then be able to win their second title in three years. How’d that turn out?
While the Astros are the favorites, they still have a long road ahead to raise the trophy. We’ll see how things go against the Yankees, as this awesome rivalry is surely going to create plenty of headlines over the next week or so.
