The Washington Nationals will be well rested – and heavy underdogs – when the World Series begins Tuesday night in Houston.
Despite the Nationals’ sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series, which resulted in a full week off between games, sportsbooks have installed the Astros as unquestioned favorites to win their second World Series in three years.
PointsBet is offering the Astros with a -228 moneyline compared to the Nationals at +185, with DraftKings offering -235/+192, respectively. FanDuel has the most bullish odds of the three on the Astros at -240, with the Nationals at +200.
Gerrit Cole will start Game 1 for the Astros, and the hard-throwing right-hander is favored by all three books to take home MVP honors. It helps that Cole will likely start at least two games and potentially three should the series go the seven-game distance.
Cole’s MVP odds are +400 by PointsBet, +650 by DraftKings and +700 by FanDuel. However, the three books differ from there. Cole’s teammate, Justin Verlander, is the second favorite at +750 by DraftKings and FanDuel, while PointsBet is offering American League Championship Series MVP Jose Altuve at +600 along with Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. The book lists Verlander tied for sixth at +900.
Altuve and Alex Bregman are listed third by DraftKings at +100, while Altuve, Bregman and teammate George Springer are +1000 by FanDuel.
Nationals Game 1 starter Max Scherzer is the top Washington candidate by all three: +700 by PointsBet and +1300 by the other two.
A bevy of prop bets are also available with total number of games in the series one of the most popular:
PointsBet: 4 games (+600), 5 games (+250), 6 games (+180), 7 games (+200)
FanDuel: 4 games (+600), 5 games (+260), 6 games (+195), 7 games (+210)
DraftKings: Over/Under 5.5 games played: Over (-177), Under (+140)
DraftKings and FanDuel are also offering props on the correct number of games won by each team in the World Series, with FanDuel also offering a bet on the correct score after three games:
Nationals 3-0: +1200
Nationals 2-1: +195
Astros 3-0: +370
Astros 2-1: +105
The books is also offering a sweep prop: Yes (+600), No (-1000), among numerous other game- and series-related bets.
