Get the free Action Network app for expert picks, live odds, bet tracking and more. Opening Day has come and gone, with the MLB season officially underway after Thursday’s festivities. But it’s not too late to bet on some of the most popular futures markets, including preseason win totals – which remained largely unchanged after Game 1. The defending champion Astros enter the 2023 season with the highest projected win total (95.5) in the
American League – one win more than the Yankees (94.5), who won 99 games a year ago but were still seven wins short of the ‘Stros for the best record in the AL. Here’s a look at each AL team’s win total entering the 2023 MLB season and three of our favorite bets in this market: As is the case most years, the Yankees enter the 2023 season with a ton of hype in the betting market and a win total shaded a few too many games to the over. Yes, this team won 99 games a season ago, but it also benefited from one of the greatest home-run crusades in MLB history. As I wrote about earlier, there’s plenty of reason to expect a major regression for Aaron Judge across the full 2023 season (despite his homer on Thursday ), which would have an adverse effect on this offense’s overall run production. And then there’s the rotation, which is loaded on paper but already dealing with potentially lingering injuries for key starters Carlos Rodon (forearm) and Luis Severino (lat). I’d be more compelled to bet
New York in the World Series market, as this team is dangerous at full strength, but I’m much more skeptical of its regular-season results. Even after adding two of the best players in
baseball over the last two offseasons, the Rangers are somehow flying under the radar entering this season. And that’s great news for over bettors. The biggest splash this winter was clearly signing Jacob deGrom, who’s won the Cy Young award in each of his last two complete healthy seasons and should be worth a half-dozen wins even if he misses a few starts (despite his rough debut ). But
Texas wasn’t done there, adding Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney, among others, to build out one of the most underrated staffs in baseball. With shortstop Corey Seager primed for a monster campaign in the first year of the new shift-less era, the Rangers should have enough pop to complement what looks like a legitimate rotation on paper. The range of outcomes is wide here, but I love the over at this modest number. It feels like everyone is sleeping on the Orioles this year, even after what we saw from the team last year in what was essentially a trial run for 2023. Baltimore snapped a streak of five-straight losing seasons with an 83-win effort in 2022, and the core of that group returns to make some noise once again. Adley Rutschman was one of the best catchers in baseball after his call-up last season, while fellow prospects Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez should help this team follow up last year’s breakout run with another winning campaign.