MW Why betting companies like DraftKings are rooting for the Blue Jays to win the World Series

By Weston Blasi

One sportsbook had 96.7% of World Series bets on the Dodgers to beat the Blue Jays once the matchup was finalized

Most sports bettors want the Dodgers to win the World Series. Sportsbooks are praying for the Blue Jays.

Tonight, the Toronto Blue Jays are hoping to win their first MLB World Series since 1993. And U.S. sportsbooks hope that the Blue Jays win, too.

That's because the Los Angeles Dodgers were heavily favored to beat Toronto in the series. In fact, once this year's World Series matchup was finalized, almost every single bet (96.7%) made on ESPN Bet over which team would win the World Series was made in favor of the Dodgers.

The wagers have been driven by the Dodgers' popularity as reigning champions and as home to one of the best players in baseball, Shohei Ohtani. And this type of overwhelming liability could lead to a bad outcome for sports-betting companies if the Blue Jays don't win and the sportsbooks have to pay up - again.

Betting companies are already coming off a football season where FanDuel owner Flutter $(FLUT)$ took a $370 million hit on NFL games after casual bettors benefited from some of the most "customer-friendly" betting outcomes that online sportsbooks have ever seen. So while a Toronto win would mean paying out some long-shot futures, it would still be a far better result for the betting operators than another Dodgers victory - which would trigger huge payouts on the most bet-on team all season.

Sportsbooks typically favor outcomes that go against the majority of wagers placed on a sporting event, which is why nearly all of them are pulling for the Blue Jays right now.

"Before the World Series began, the Blue Jays winning it all was a good outcome for the sportsbook," Seamus Magee, trading manager at BetMGM, told MarketWatch in an email.

The Dodgers can still give them a run for their money, though. "Toronto is still the preferred winner, but we wouldn't mind seeing a Game 7," Magee added. The series is currently 3-2 in favor of Toronto, and sportsbooks generally prefer longer series because more games equals more bets - and more juice for sportsbooks.

Still, the Blue Jays winning the whole thing would provide a lifeline to betting companies. "We definitely need the Blue Jays. Toronto winning would be a strong result for us," Caesars Sports head of baseball trading Eric Biggio said to Fox. "If you know of any Blue Jays backers with deep pockets, you can send them our way."

The two most popular individual prop bets on BetMGM for Game 6 on Halloween night are Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hitting over 0.5 home runs (+400), and Ohtani hitting over 0.5 home runs (+195). The biggest liability for World Series MVP - as in, the players who sportsbooks least want to see win the award - are Ohtani, Guerrero Jr. and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in that order.

In addition to ESPN Bet $(DIS)$, BetMGM $(MGM)$ and Caesars $(CZR)$, other U.S. sportsbooks were also showing an overwhelming amount of bets on the Dodgers heading into Game 6. But it's not just bets that were made in the days leading up to the World Series; fans have been backing the Dodgers all year long.

From the archives: How does a gambling site lose money? DraftKings just lost $250 million in revenue - mostly on NFL games.

Toronto opened the season at +6000 odds to win the World Series before the season (1.6% implied probability of winning), while the Dodgers went into the season at roughly +750 odds. In other words, expectations were low for Toronto heading into the year, and high for the Dodgers.

Even with those long-shot odds for Toronto, sportsbooks would rather pay out those bets than face the heavy losses that would occur with a Dodgers series win. That's because the Dodgers were the most wagered-on team in terms of total futures bets, and in total money at nearly every major sportsbook.

According to betting data from DraftKings $(DKNG)$, at the start of the MLB playoffs, 36% (or over 1 in 3) of all World Series winner bets were made for the Dodgers - more than triple the amount of bets on the next most wagered-on team. The Dodgers also had 22% of all money wagered (otherwise known as handle) to win the World Series.

More bets were on the Los Angeles Dodgers than any other team to win the 2025 World Series.

It's not clear exactly how much sportsbooks would lose if the Dodgers were to win, as the ones mentioned in this story declined to comment on potential loss amounts or betting figures.

Several members of the r/BlueJays subreddit have begun sharing that they placed small wagers on their team to win the World Series at long odds.

"That $20, +6000 bet I put pre-season on winning the WS is looking a lot more realistic," one Reddit user posted before the playoffs.

"I grabbed it at +7500!" another user wrote.

Sportsbooks typically profit from the "vig," their commission on each bet. However, their strategy involves more than just balancing wagers. When a popular team, such as the Dodgers or Yankees, is heavily favored, sportsbooks adjust the odds to encourage betting on the underdog to minimize their risk. Despite this, sometimes bettors still take the favorite - and win.

Unfavorable sports-betting outcomes can really hurt sportsbooks' bottom lines. For example, FanDuel, the Flutter Entertainment sportsbook, took a $74 million loss during a regular-season NFL game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers, which ended in a 40-34 win for the favored Lions.

For sportsbooks, the stakes are high and their rooting interest is clear: They're all in on the Blue Jays.

See: Sportsbooks were called 'victims' in new NBA gambling probe. Here's what DraftKings, FanDuel have to say.

-Weston Blasi

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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October 31, 2025 16:53 ET (20:53 GMT)

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