2023 World Series odds: Phillies not expected to return to Fall Classic

The Philadelphia Phillies came within two victories of completing a stunning run from playoff team with the worst record to World Series champion.

Yet despite vastly exceeding expectations by simply making it to the 2022 Fall Classic, the Phillies aren’t projected to be the last team standing next season. Nor are they among the favorites to successfully defend their National League pennant — even though Philadelphia’s previous two World Series trips came in back-to-back seasons.

Instead, oddsmakers have the usual suspect at the top of the heap in the 2023 MLB futures market — and, no, it’s not the team that ended the Phillies’ season Saturday night.

Here’s an early look at 2023 World Series odds — and which teams might be worthy of a wager — as baseball transitions from the postseason to the Hot Stove season.

Note: Odds updated as of 2 p.m. ET on Nov. 7.

Three things you can always count on in October: a noticeable dip in temperatures, a big spike in candy sales and the Los Angeles Dodgers bowing out of the MLB playoffs earlier than expected.

Despite just one championship since 1988 — that coming in the truncated 2020 campaign — the Dodgers enter the offseason as the favorite to win the World Series for the fourth consecutive year.

Los Angeles sits atop the World Series odds board at Caesars Sportsbook at +500, just ahead of the Houston Astros (+550). Houston, which on Saturday won its second title in franchise history — and first without the tarnish of a cheating scandal — is the looking to become the first team to win consecutive championships since the New York Yankees won three in a row in 1998-2000.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ biggest offseason questions: Harper’s elbow, shortstop addition and Painter in 2023?

So where do the 2022 World Series runners-up fit into the picture? The Phillies are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres for the sixth shortest odds to win next year’s title. All three squads are at +1400 at Caesars Sportsbook and trail the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees (both +850), as well as the New York Mets (+1000).

That’s right: The Phillies are the third choice in their own division, slotting behind the NL East rival Braves and Mets — even though Philly ousted Atlanta in the 2022 National League Division Series, and even though New York got bounced by the Padres in the Wild Card round.

The good news for Phillies fans (and bettors)? Despite the current opinion of oddsmakers, history is somewhat on their side (as well as the side of every team not named the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Braves and Mets).

Two.

That’s the number of MLB teams that have won a championship in the last 13 years after hitting the World Series odds board with single-digit odds.

The 2020 Dodgers won it all after opening as the +385 favorite (per Sports Odds History), and the 2016 Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year World Series drought after opening at +650. Otherwise, every champion since 2010 has had odds of +1000 or longer.

That includes the past two champions: Houston in 2022 and Atlanta in 2021 were each +1000 when the MLB futures market opened in those respective seasons.

In fact, during a six-year stretch from 2010-2015, every World Series winner started out with odds of +2000 or better. The 2015 Royals (+3300) were the longest of those long shots to raise a banner and the biggest underdog to do so since the 2003 Florida Marlins, who opened at 75-to-1 after the 2002 Fall Classic.

So if you’re someone who follows recent history — and someone who doesn’t mind tying your money up in an MLB futures bet for nearly 12 months without knowing how the free agent market will shake out — the Phillies aren’t a bad play.

Neither, for that matter, are the two teams that share Philadelphia’s 2023 World Series odds (San Diego and Toronto), as well as the Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals (both +1800 at Caesars Sportsbook).

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The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.