Baseball Is Back: MLB Betting Futures Flood Oregon Lottery Scoreboard App

Spring training is underway. Fans are in the stands. And the usual 162 games are on the regular-season MLB schedule.

Baseball is back. And while things aren’t completely back to normal, the light is at the end of the tunnel.

With that start comes a full slate of betting options, from MVP futures to over/under win totals.

And it can all be found on the Oregon Lottery Scoreboard sports betting app.

Dodgers, Padres highlight West Coast futures

Some of the best baseball is being played on the West Coast. So is some of the worst, however, as outlined in over/under win totals for the season:

• Los Angeles Dodgers: 101.5
• San Diego Padres: 95.5
• Oakland Athletics: 86.5
• Los Angeles Angels: 83.5
• San Francisco Giants: 76.5
• Seattle Mariners: 73.5

Leading the conversation, of course, is the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who enter 2021 with the shortest odds (+190) of any team to win the National League and as the favorites (+350) to win the World Series.

The Dodgers made the biggest splash of the MLB offseason, signing reigning NL Cy Young award winner Trevor Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract. Bauer, listed at +800 to repeat as Cy Young winner, solidifies a rotation that already includes young star Walker Buehler (+1000) and veterans Clayton Kershaw (+2300) and David Price (+7500).

Making even more noise, however, were the Padres, who enter the season at +375 to win the NL pennant and +750 to take the Series.

San Diego not only locked up one of the game’s most exciting young stars – signing Fernando Tatis Jr. to a 14-year extension – but also signed two of the game’s best starting pitchers in Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. Darvish sits at +1100 to win the NL Cy Young, with Snell at +1300.

What about the rest of the MLB West?

The rest of the West Coast is expected to range from Wild Card position to the depths of their own divisions.

Long gone are the San Francisco Giants of the early 2010s. Here is a squad with talent in the bullpen but a cohort of aging stars unlikely to make a playoff push, evidenced by their +5000 odds to win the NL West.

In even worse shape are the Mariners, whose biggest offseason accomplishment was angering the entire Players Association.

That said, the Mariners have an enticing young nucleus on the verge of making Major League noise, although that talent is unlikely to cash on +3000 odds to win the AL West this year.

Trout enters as favorite for American League MVP

Call them the hidden heroics of Mike Trout.

The Angels outfielder could retire tomorrow and go down as one of the game’s greatest players ever. Still, his significance lacks appreciation from many casual fans, caused largely by limited exposure and little playoff success.

But one group is paying attention: sportsbooks.

Scoreboard has Trout at +200 to win the AL MVP award, positioning him as a heavy favorite to win the prize for the fourth time.

Here is how other top stars in the American League stack up:

• Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman: +1000
• New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge: +1200
• Cleveland Indians’ Jose Ramirez: +1500
• Los Angeles Angels’ Anthony Rendon: +1800
• Oakland Athletics’ Matt Chapman: +2000

Want a real long shot? Mariners fan-favorite Kyle Seager sits at +12500.

Betts leads the favorites for National League MVP

Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts is positioned at +800 to win the NL MVP. He is tied with Nationals slugger Juan Soto with the shortest odds to win the award.

Betts finished second in the NL MVP race in 2020, behind the Braves’ Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers outfielder could become just the second player in MLB history to win the MVP award in both leagues, joining legend Frank Robinson.

The competition will be stiff, with heavyweights on his own team and in the same state:

• Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna: +900
• San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr.: +950
• Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger: +1000
• Atlanta Braves’ Freddie Freeman: +1100
• Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich: +1200

Dodgers SS Corey Seager, meanwhile, sits at +2000 to win the award. Just behind: the Padres’ Manny Machado, last year’s third-place finisher, at +2500.

The only Giants player to receive National League MVP odds is OF Mike Yastrzemski, at +10000.

Gonzales a dark-horse Cy Young candidate

Soft-throwing, crafty Mariners starter Marco Gonzales is not a household name.

But after a strong showing in the shortened 2020 campaign, including a 3.10 ERA and a WHIP below one, Gonzales has emerged as a dark-horse candidate for the AL Cy Young award.

One of the most consistent starters in 2020, Gonzales heads a young, somewhat experimental staff in Seattle. And he hopes to prove his recent success was no fluke.

Surprisingly, the 29-year-old lefty received no consideration for last year’s award despite some late-season public pushes.

Expect that to change if Gonzales can legitimize his 2020 campaign and embark on another season of success, creating enticing value on his +3300 odds to win the AL Cy Young.

To do that, however, he will need to beat out some big arms in the Cy Young race:

• New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole: +350
• Chicago White Sox’ Lucas Giolito: +450
• Cleveland Indians’ Shane Bieber: +500
• Tampa Bay Rays’ Tyler Glasnow: +1100
• Toronto Blue Jays’ Hyun-Jin Ryu: +1500