MLB Preview & Betting Guide

2024 World Series Recap

Who Won the World Series? Heading into the post-season, the Dodgers were the team in the best of form, they finished the regular season with five straight wins and finished top of the National League with a 98-64 record (0.605). In the other league, it was the Yankees who finished top with an identical record of 94-68 but did finish the season in great form having lost four of their final six games of the regular season.

It turned out that the regular season form was the one to follow this season as the World Series involved those two franchises mentioned, a rare feat which had only happened four times prior in the MLB since the beginning of the Wild Card Era in 1995.

• 1995: Cleveland vs. Atlanta
• 1999: Yankees vs. Braves
• 2013: Cardinals vs. Red Sox
• 2020: Rays vs. Dodgers
• 2024: Dodgers vs. Yankees

The Yankees opened up against Wild Card winners KC Royals who defeated the Orioles 2-0 but the Yankees were too good for them and dispatched them in four games (3-1). That set up a Championship Series against the Guardians who defeated the Tigers 3-2 and it was all fairly straightforward for the Yankees again seeing off the Guardians in five games (4-1) to advance to their first World Series since winning it in 2009.

The Dodgers needed more games on their route to the World Series, they found themselves 2-1 down to the Padres who had beaten the Braves in the Wild Card but they rallied to take the series 3-2. Their Championship Series was against the only Wild Card team left standing, the Mets and it took six games (4-2) to get to the World Series which would be their fourth appearance in the last eight seasons.

In the World Series, I think the majority of fans were expecting a close encounter especially after the opening game needed extra innings to decide the winner! However, the Dodgers made home early home advantage pay by winning the first two games of the series and then went to Yankee Stadium to take a 3-0 lead. The Yankees had a glimmer of hope when they won game four and knew they had to back it up in game five at Yankee Stadium, but the Dodgers came out 7-6 winners and clinched the World Series 4-1, the third consecutive 4-1 series score in the World Series.

Past World Series Winners

Below are the last ten winners of the World Series:

Which League has produced the most World Series Wins?

Since 1903, there has been a total of one hundred and twenty world series, there was no World Series in 1904 and again due to players striking nothing in 1994 and it is the American League who holds the upper hand with sixty-eight World Series wins compared to the fifty-two from the National League.

In more recent times it has been much closer, since 2000, twelve of the twenty-five have gone to National League sides with the other thirteen going to the American League sides so there has not been a great deal between them in recent years.

Who are the most successful team in the World Series?

The New York Yankees have made a total of forty-one World Series appearances, their first coming in 1921 when they lost 5-3 to the Giants, a year later it was much of the same, being beaten 4-0 by the Giants in the world series but they got their revenge a year later when winning their maiden title in 1923 beating the Giants 4-2. They have now notched up a total of twenty-seven World Series wins, which is sixteen more than anyone else, they have also lost fourteen times meaning they have a  65.9% win rate when making the World Series but their last success was in 2009 and that, along with 2024 are the only world series they have made since 2004.

The St. Louis Cardinals are next on the list but that is still some sixteen wins less than the Yankees, they have picked up a total of eleven wins from nineteen World Series appearances, and they have placed in four since 2004, they lost in 2004 but won it in both 2006 & 2011 but were again beaten in 2013 so in terms of win percentage in the world series, despite winning eleven their win percentage of .57.9% is the worst of the top four teams to win the world series as the Athletics are 64.3% (9 wins & 5 defeats) and the Red Sox are 69.2% (9 wins & 4 defeats).

At the other end of the spectrum, the 2024 winners, the LA Dodgers, are among the unluckiest when it comes to the World Series. They have appeared in twenty-two, and their 2024 success with the eighth World Series win means they have lost fourteen times. Their win percentage, therefore, is only 36.4%!

How to Be Successful at MLB Betting

One way is to follow the statistics, Long-term term statistics can be great guidance when picking out your MLB bets, however, statistics can only tell you one thing so it is also always worth considering factors like which Umpires are taking charge of the game. If you are looking to back the game totals then always look at the Weather, the strength of the wind can play a big factor for this market, look for the wind strength and if it is anything over 4 mph then the under total would be more preferable is blowing towards home base if it is blowing away from the home base then overs would certainly come into play.

When it comes to statistics, you can look at things like teams who perform at home, for the five seasons between 2020-24 there are a total of nineteen teams who have a win percentage of under 60% when a home favourite, ideally, you would want a better outcome than that, the best-performing team at home are the 2024 World Series winners, the LA Dodgers who have a record of 236-107 which is a win percentage of 68.8% and the shorter priced they go, the higher the percentage rise which is what you would expect. It's all about finding the right balance between success bets and value odds, backing them each time they were 1.80 or shorter over the five seasons would have seen a 68.6% success rate, however backing them at 1.50 or shorter that rises to 74.3% and as you would expect as the odds get shorter and shorter the success rate rises.

• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.8 or shorter 225-103 (68.6%)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.7 or shorter 211-93 (69.4%)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.6 or shorter 168-73 (69.7%)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.5 or shorter 130-45 (74.3%)

Another couple of teams with a good set of figures over the timespan are the Tampa Bay Rays, who have a home record of 184-96 (65.7%) when favourites and also the Cleveland Guardians whose record is 151-85 (64.8%), those two teams along with the Dodgers are the only three teams over the last five years to have a success rate of 64.8% or better when favourites at home.

There are only three teams who when on the road when favourites have a win rate of 65% or better which when you consider they are on the road is an excellent return, those teams are the Detroit Tigers who rank best with their 31-12 (72.1%) record, the Atlanta Braves who are 158-85 (65%) and the Baltimore Orioles who are 52-28 (65%), whilst the team to avoid on the road when favourites are the surprisingly the 2023 World Series champions, the Texas Rangers who have a poor 56-52 (46.9%) record.

Backing the Underdog

If you can find yourself an underdog angle to bet on which is successful then that is one of the most profitable ways to go about things, an underdog is a team that is the bigger of the odds, meaning they are not favourites to win the game so finding an angle is difficult because they are not fancied to win.

The value is mostly going to come when teams are playing away from home, however, the Mariners at home are worth a mention, between 2020 and 2024 they were underdogs in 129 games at home, and their record was 67-62 (51.9%) so a winning percentage.

There was only one other team with a winning percentage at home as underdogs over the same period which was the Cardinals (50.4%) with a record of 58-57.

There are two teams when it comes to winning underdogs being away from home, top of the pile are the Bewers with their 90-74 (54.9%) record, they show a profit with an ROI of 21.77% which is the best record of the teams.

The other team are the Yankees, they have a 59-53 record on the road when underdogs meaning they have won 52.7% of those games along with an ROI of 15.01%.

Here are the profitable teams on the road when underdogs based on ROI:

• 21.77% - Milwaukee Brewers
• 15.01% - New York Yankees
• 7.16% - Houston Astros
• 6.89% - San Diego Padres
• 5.39% - Tampa Bay Rays
• 5.96% - Cleveland Guardians
• 9.14% - Baltimore Orioles
• 5.21% - Cincinnati Reds

Are teams successful by Month?

The question here is, Can teams be more successful at certain times of the season compared to others? The simple answer is yes based on statistics but we also have to remember there are other factors, did a team have a top player on the injured list during certain months, did they spend more time on the road in one month compared to another, did that team get horrible weather and so on meaning whilst the statistics offer one angle, we have to remember the other factors.

For example, the Brewers tend to start the season well with a 63.4% win record in April over the past five seasons which is the highest of any of the teams, however, they seem to struggle to retain their form into May, in fact, their May win rate of 50.5% is the lowest month during the regular season so they go from their best to their worst in conductive months!

The Dodgers are consistent, they don't drop below a 57.4% win rate during the regular season, August being their best month where they have 77.5% of their games, September is their second best so a strong finishing franchise.

 Along with the Dodgers when looking at strong finishes to the regular season then you have to note the Braves, for both August (63%) and September (60.1%) their win rate is above 60%, only they and Dodgers have achieved this.

Below is a table of the best-performing and worst-performing teams for each month of the season, what will be interesting is how the OLBG baseball tipsters support or oppose these teams during those months mentioned, remember to head over to the baseball picks to see those predictions.

Teams to follow and oppose each month based on ROI

More Baseball Blogs...

• MLB American League
• MLB National League
• Japan NPB
• KBO Preview