Fifth-seeded Yankees among World Series favorites

The New York Yankees stumbled to the No. 5 seed in the American League playoff standings, but that hasn’t deterred bettors or sportsbooks when it comes to their postseason prospects.

After an early September surge, the Yankees lost six of their final 10 games while allowing an average of 5.8 runs per game. They also led the American League with 315 runs scored during the regular season despite battling through a slew of injuries to their lineup.

New York will open its postseason on the road against the fourth-seeded Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

The Yankees are being offered at +650 to win the World Series by SportsBetting.com, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers (+300) and Tampa Bay Rays (+550), the top seeds in each league. New York is being offered at +350 to win the American League pennant, behind only the Rays (+300) and ahead of No. 2 seed Oakland (+550) and No. 3 seed Minnesota (+550).

The Dodgers meeting the Yankees had the lowest odds of potential World Series matchups at DraftKings. That scenario was being offered at +775, followed by the Rays vs. Dodgers (+820), Twins vs. Miami Marlins (+940) and A’s vs. Dodgers (+1280). The longest odds were on the Indians meeting the St. Louis Cardinals (+11150).

Cleveland enters its opening-round series as the higher seed, but is +700 to win the AL pennant and +1300 to win the World Series by SportsBetting.com.

The Indians are 1.5-run favorites to win Game 1 by DraftKings. However, that had led to 86 percent of the bets and 74 percent of the Game 1 handle at the sportsbook being placed on the Yankees on Monday, with 79 percent of the over/under bets being placed on more than six total runs being scored.

World Series winner odds (SportsBetting.com)
Los Angeles Dodgers: +300
Tampa Bay Rays: +550
New York Yankees: +650
San Diego Padres: +1000
Oakland Athletics: +1000
Atlanta Braves: +1000
Minnesota Twins: +1000
Chicago White Sox: +1300
Chicago Cubs: +1300
Cleveland Indians: +1300
Houston Astros: +2200
Toronto Blue Jays: +2500
Miami Marlins: +2500
Cincinnati Reds: +2800
St. Louis Cardinals: +3300
Milwaukee Brewers: +3500

–Field Level Media