World Series Odds Update: Angels Lead, Wild Cards Heat Up

With the MLB regular season winding down, the Los Angeles Angels have emerged as 5-1 World Series favorites.

The Angels have won 19 of their last 25 games to claim the best record in baseball, four games ahead of the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles.

The Angels sit firmly atop the division, seven games ahead of the Oakland A’s and nine ahead of the Seattle Mariners, who currently sit one-two, respectively, in the AL Wild Card standings.

The Angels open a series Monday in Cleveland.

The A’s occupied the top spot in AL West for much of the season until their current 8-18 slide in their last 26 games. Their World Series odds have tumbled in line with their recent collapse, falling to 17-2 after being pegged as favorites for several weeks earlier in the season.

Oakland visits Seattle for a three-game series with the Mariners on the weekend following a four-game meeting with the White Sox in Chicago. The A’s, winners in two of three over the Sox this season, enter Monday’s game as 4-7 moneyline favorites.

The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers meet on Monday in the first of a three-game set with serious implications for the AL Central and AL Wild Card standings. With World Series odds of 14-1, the surprising Royals maintain a two-game lead over the Tigers in the division but still trail Detroit.

Despite entering the week outside the MLB playoff picture, a half game behind Seattle in the AL Wild Card race, the Tigers are hanging on to strong 9-1 World Series odds and are 10-13 favorites over the Mariners on Monday afternoon.

The Tigers welcome the Cleveland Indians on the weekend. The Tribe trail by just 3.5 games in the AL Wild Card standings but are 40-1 long shots on the World Series odds.

Meanwhile, the tightest race in the National League is in the wild-card standings, where the San Francisco Giants hold the top spot, two games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, with the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers just 0.5 games back of the Pirates.

This week, the Giants play three of their six September games against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who trail only the Angels in World Series odds at 11-1.

Milwaukee, which has dropped out of first in the NL Central after losing 13 of its last 16, welcome the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds this week, while the Pirates play 10 straight against teams with losing records before welcoming the Brewers to town next week.

Odds and stats courtesy of Odds Shark.