MLB Wild Card Pick 9/30/2025 and a Peek at the Odds to Win World Series 2025

Betting baseball always felt like a completely different animal from gambling on any other sport. There’s just so much more to attempt to know – who’s pitching well, who’s hitting, how’s the bullpen, who’s even in the lineup. Plus, the odds are just different. Seeing -150 isn’t terribly unusual, even if you are betting the “run line,” which is +/-1.5 runs, as far as I’ve ever seen it. And everything is pretty much predicated on the starting pitcher. For me, betting amounts are also much smaller than I would wager on other sports.

I briefly dabbled in betting baseball this season. I had my bank roll barely over where I wanted it to go into football loaded for bear. So, I simply didn’t want to risk much. But as the playoffs get started today, I’m taking a shot.

I looked at the Tigers with Tarik Skubal, who was excellent most of the season, pitching today. But he and Detroit are limping into the playoffs at least by the numbers. So, I went with the Yankees and the Dodgers.

NY Yankees (-132) vs. Red Sox

LA Dodgers (-220) vs. Reds

I parlayed them for $5 to win $7.85.

Both teams are hot coming into this Wild Card series. Max Fried (Yankees) and Blake Snell (Dodgers) are starting and have been solid in their last few starts. I don’t look at baseball parlays the same way I’d see a football or even basketball parlay. The payout is just so low on a lot of baseball games, I look to put a couple games together to make a worthwhile bet. In this case, the Dodgers at -220 just isn’t a great bet because it’s not enough “reward” even for the small “risk.” The Yankees at -132 might have been OK, but I liked Los Angeles enough to essentially “add to the bet.” Of course, the Dodgers are still a “risk.”

I also wanted to peek at the odds to win the World Series. I found these on CBS this morning:

World Series winner

Phillies: +425

Mariners: +450

Dodgers: +500

Blue Jays: +750

Brewers: +750

Yankees: +800

Padres: +1400

Cubs: +1500

Tigers: +1800

Red Sox: +2200

Guardians: +3000

Reds: +3500

I’m not making a pick nor betting on the World Series winner today. Oddly enough, I couldn’t even get odds on this bet on the site that I gamble on this morning. Earlier in the week, I believe, they had the Phillies and Dodgers tied as favorites at around +460. As a Phillies fan, I’d just say that my fear is that they rely too much on the home run ball, which just doesn’t come as much in the cooler weather. Losing Zach Wheeler was obviously a huge blow, but if Aaron Nola gets it together, they still have a very good pitching rotation.

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