World Series Odds: Can The Phillies Beat The Astros?

World Series Odds: Can The Phillies Beat The Astros?

Last night, the Phightin’ Phils solidified quite the comeback, with a Bryce Harper homer pulling the team ahead 4-3 against the San Diego Padres and 4-1 in their NLCS series overall, clenching them the pennant and advancing them to the World Series! Slightly north of Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park over in Yankee Stadium, the Houston Astros beat the Yankees 6-5 in a close nine-inning nail-biter, sweeping their ALCS series 4-0. 

These wins mark the 4th time the Astros have won the National League Pennant in 6 years, and the first pennant the Phillies have won since 2009, one year after the team’s legendary 2008 World Series win against the Tampa Bay Rays. Both teams are set to face off for Game 1 of the World Series this Friday, October 28th, at the Astros’ home Minute Maid Park Stadium. As of now, the tentative schedule for the rest of the series is as follows:

• Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 29

• Game 3: Monday, Oct. 31

• Game 4: Tuesday, Nov. 1

• Game 5: Wednesday, Nov. 2

• Game 6:Friday, Nov. 4

• Game 7: Saturday, Nov. 

Ahead of the first matchup, it’d be wise to catch up on how far the MLB postseason odds have come, and where they stand now. Let's catch up on how the Phillies and Astros got here, where both teams could go from here, and where you can place your best bets on the biggest games in baseball.

MLB Futures Odds: Then And Now

Around this time last July, as Harper really began stepping up to the plate, the Phillies were seldom considered in the discussion for the 2022 World Series. Per DraftKings Sportsbook, their odds had the Phillies pegged as +4000 odds to win the 2022 title outright. That means if you put down a $100 unit on DraftKings back in the summer for them to win, you could now stand to return a $4,000 profit if the Phillies walk away with the championship!

Unlike the Phillies, the big barking NLCS dogs now hoping to bite, Vegas eyed the Astros as likely favorites for some time now. Around this time last July over the course of the All-Star Break, DraftKings pegged the Astros as +500 favorites, only lagging behind the New York Yankees (who they’ve now just defeated) at +400 odds. That means if you laid a $100 unit on them to win outright at that point, you would now stand to win $500 if Houston wins the 2022 Fall Classic!

Hindsight is 20/20, and while it’s unfortunate that you can’t go back and place that hedge in hindsight, you can still look back at both teams’ prior performance to potentially gain some future foresight. With that said, let’s take another look back in the lead-up to Game 1 of the 2022 MLB World Series.

Phillies Vs. Astros Playoff History

Over the course of the year, the Phillies went on to consistently lead the league with an entire bullpen’s worth of heavy hitters, cannon arms like:

• J.T. Realmuto

• Bryce Harper

• Kyle Schwarber

• Bryson Scott

• Rhys Hoskins

• Nick Castellanos

Besides the heavy hitters stepping up to the plate, the Phillies had a double team of two impeccable pitching snipers step up to the mound: Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler. Zack put up a solid 2.85 ERA over 150 innings this year, but he and Nola might potentially meet their matches in Houston’s pitching rotation.

The Astros tout the talents of Frambler Valdez, Cristian Javier, and of course, American League Cy Young frontrunner Justin Verlander, who managed to pull off a record few other pitchers could with a sub 2.00 ERA. With both sides boasting big firepower in their bullpens, it’s worth taking a look at both team’s overall record to better understand where the betting lines are at right now.

Over the course of the season, the Houston Astros rose to lead the AL West with 106 wins and 56 losses, with their dubs nearly double their Ls. Contrast that with the Phillies ending their season with 87 wins and 75 losses, and it isn’t hard to see why the Vegas oddsmakers are pegging Houston as early favorites ahead of Game 1.

Currently, as of this writing, DraftKings has the Astros priced as solid -170 favorites on the moneyline, and -185 favorites to win the series outright. Laying a hundo on that moneyline means you could walk away with a $158.82 payout if the Astros win that first game, and if you put one on the current series winner odds, you could walk away with $154.05 if they end up winning it all. 

Vegas views the Astros as the more likely payout right now, but if you’d prefer to take your chances with the dogs, you can currently take the Phillies’ Game 1 money line for +145 on DraftKings. That means that if you put a single Benjamin on Bryce and the Phightin’ Phils other big swingers to win outright, you could walk away with a cool $245 payout if they win the first game outright.

But if you’re eyeing a safer bet on Philadelphia, you could consider taking their +1.5 run line at a favorable -155 odds. If you put $100 on that run line, you could take home a decent $164.51 payout, so long as they don’t lose by more than one run. Likewise, if you’re contemplating a riskier bet on Houston, you could take a stab on the other side of the run-line, -1.5 at +135 odds. If the Astros win by 2 or more runs this Friday, $100 at those odds could net you $235 in profit. 

Conversely, if you’re a Philadelphia fan hoping for the team’s first title since 2008, $100 on their bet for becoming the World Series Championship winner would net you $260 at their current +160 odds on DraftKings. Whether more of them are leaning towards the Philadelphia Phillies or the Houston Astros to cover the Game 1 moneyline this Friday, novice DraftKings’ users should know how to get started betting the best way possible. 

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