2022 NL Pennant Futures Odds & Futures Betting

The Major League Baseball is down to its final seven weeks. There are great pennant races occurring across baseball, especially in the National League. Only one race looks like it is a foregone conclusion, as the Los Angeles Dodgers have a commanding lead in the NL West. However, the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and St. Louis Cardinals all have a shot at a division title, while the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants are battling to get in on one of the wildcard spots.

Those teams who have a legitimate shot of making the playoffs are clearly the ones with the best odds of winning the NL Pennant, but it is the Dodgers who come into August with the best odds overall at +160 what the New York Mets right behind it +200.

It is not surprising that best betting sites are not confident in Los Angeles. After all, the club has the top OPS (.786) and the top ERA (2.93) for almost 2 weeks in August. The pitching staff is deep, the bullpen is solid, and the lineup can hit for power and get on base. This is a team destined to reach the World Series for the fourth time in the last six years.

However, there is some steep competition out there. The Milwaukee Brewers (+750) and St. Louis Cardinals (+1800) are battling for the top record in the NL Central. The team that loses out on that battle is likely to make it in the final wildcard spot. Milwaukee held a 0.5-game lead over St. Louis entering the All-Star break, but the Cardinals are driving hard. These teams have split the first 12 meetings between them, meaning there are only a handful of games left between the clubs. So, it is the other contests that are going to determine this division.

In the NL East, the New York Mets (+200) look like they have the pitching staff and the power to give the Dodgers everything they can handle, and they have played well against Los Angeles this season, going 2-2. However, the question will be whether they can hold off the red-hot Atlanta Braves +600. That question looked like it was answered a weekend ago when the Mets took four of five from Atlanta making your 8-4 against Atlanta this season.

Both New York and Atlanta are stacked. They rank in the top seven in terms of ERA. Atlanta had the second most homeruns at this point (173) and that is the one significant difference between the clubs. Atlanta does have the better everyday lineup, and they are the defending World Series champions. That simply cannot be ignored as they have proven themselves to be battle tested.

NL West Division

The Los Angeles Dodgers look like they are easily going to win the West Division. They have held a double-digit lead in the NL West for well over a month now, and it looks like a foregone conclusion that this team is going to enter the playoffs with the top record in the National League. At the time of this article, they were on an 11-game winning streak and have won at home (40-15) and on the road (38-18).

The question is whether any other team in this division will be able to compete for wildcard spot. Clearly, no one is catching the Dodgers for the division crown, even if Los Angeles was to completely collapse at this point. No other team in this division is likely to win more than 90 games, so the Dodgers only need 12 more victories to reach that mark. Them winning the division is almost a foregone conclusion.

The question now is if there is any possibility that another club from this division could earn a playoff spot. That potentially includes the San Diego Padres. 

San Diego has everything a team needs to get to the World Series. The odds are set at +900 for this club, the fourth best overall. They have an outstanding starting staff, a solid bullpen, and the additions of Juan Soto and Josh Bell make this an extremely formidable lineup. However, it is going to be interesting to see how the team will respond to the loss of Fernando Tatis. 

The club has not had him on their roster all season, as he was battling back from an injury, but the recent revelation that he was suspended for the remainder of the season due to PEDs could shake this club, It is one thing to lose your star player because his rehab is not going well. It is another to lose him because he was cheating.

The San Francisco Giants (+12,500) find themselves at about 7.5 games out of the wildcard spot when this article was written. This team is falling over themselves, ruining their chances of advancing. They lost two of three to San Diego recently. That makes San Francisco 5-7 against San Diego this year. With these teams only having a handful of games remaining against one another remaining, they likely spoiled their opportunity to grab that final playoff spot.

The Colorado Rockies (+100,000) and Arizona Diamondbacks (+75,000) were both in the wildcard chase coming out of the All-Star break. However, both clubs have fallen on hard times and now find themselves at least 10 games out for the final wildcard spot. With it necessary for them to leapfrog San Francisco to catch San Diego at this point, plus they must surpass Milwaukee as well, the chances of either of these clubs reaching the playoffs is virtually nonexistent.

What this tells you is that there is really only one team in the NL West that you can count on. That is the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego is going to depend upon how Soto and Bell deliver. Soto is hitting .353 through his first nine games while Bell is at .194.

This promises to be an exciting division race. Not for who wins the division crown, but who will make it into the post-season as a wildcard contender. Each of these teams is going to be battle-tested in trying to even get into the postseason, so they could be dangerous come playoff time.