Las Vegas favors Los Angeles in the World Series.
The Bovada posts odds of -165 for the Dodgers and +145 for the Houston Astros. This means a $100 wager on the Astros wins $145 and a $100 wager on the Dodgers loses $165. VegasInsider lists Houston at +146 and Los Angeles at -166.
The Astros face worse odds for Game 1 with Clayton Kershaw throwing for the Dodgers. At the Bovada, a $100 bet wins $160 for Houston and a $100 bet on Los Angeles loses $170. Dallas Keuchel went 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA for Houston this season, so it’s not as though the Dodgers face Rudi Stein.
Prop bets include 4-1 odds that the Dodgers win it in seven (and, at the other end of the odds spectrum, 16-1 odds that they get swept), 2-1 odds that the series ends in seven games, and 9-2 odds that Kershaw wins the MVP (5-1 for Astros second baseman Jose Altuve).
The Dodgers won a major-league best 104 games this season. The Astros went 101-61, good for second best in the American League. This marks the first World Series since 1970, when the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds, that both teams enter the Fall Classic on the heels of 100-win seasons.
Regular season record determined home-field advantage, so Chavez Ravine hosts Games 1 and 2, Minute Maid Park hosts Games 3, 4, and 5, and, should it come to it, the teams return to Dodger Stadium for Games 6 and 7. All games start shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern. The best-of-seven series starts Tuesday night in Los Angeles at 5:09 p.m. Pacific time.
The National League owns a 6-4 advantage over its younger sister over the last decade. The American League boasts a 14-11 record over the last quarter century.
Los Angeles last played in the World Series in 1988, when the Dodgers upset the Oakland Athletics in five games after a limping Kirk Gibson memorably hit a walk-off, pinch-hit homer in Game 1. The Houston Astros boast a single World Series appearance. They lost to the Chicago White Sox in four games in 2005.
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