Spring training action is heating up as we march towards MLB Opening Day on March 25. By the time the final out of the World Series is recorded, 2,430 regular-season games and a month of postseason action will have been played, thousands of home runs will have been hit, bases stolen and outs recorded. Champions will be crowned, individual awards earned and a new page will be have been written into baseball’s history book.
Now is the time to go on record predicting these outcomes. Todd Zola, Derek Carty, Eric Karabell and Tristan H. Cockcroft did just that, identifying one bet to make involving each of the 30 MLB teams.
Note: All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook 
and accurate as of publication time.
Jump to: AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL East | NL Central | NL West
American League
Baltimore Orioles
Gunnar Henderson +235 to record 180-plus hits
Among the many intriguing Henderson props, this stands out as one of the better-priced options. In addition to the Orioles having strengthened their lineup with the additions of Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward, they should also get better performances from several of their offensive regulars. That includes Henderson, as much of his 2025 downturn could be traced to the intercostal strain that delayed the start to his year. He’s likely to capitalize upon a lineup that will turn over more frequently, meaning a probable return to the 700-PA plateau, and his contact-rate spike late last year offers promise in the hits department. — Cockcroft
Boston Red Sox
Garrett Crochet +425 to win the AL Cy Young
Crochet will be a popular choice to win the Cy Young Award — and why not? He boosted his workload by 59 1/3 innings while shaving nearly a full run off his ERA and doubling his quality start total (22) in a breakthrough 2025, with underlying metrics that fully support a repeat, if not a slight step forward. Tarik Skubal is the chalk for this award, but Crochet is an effective 1A as far as Cy Young favorites for 2026. And he’s a nicely priced one at that. — Cockcroft
New York Yankees
David Bednar 10-1 to lead the majors in saves
Of all Yankees props, why Bednar? Simple: He enjoyed a full return of his elite swing-and-miss stuff (four-seamer/curve/splitter) following his deadline deal to the Yankees and he faces considerably less competition for the team’s closer role this year than last. Plus, he’s pitching for a team that has a solid, albeit fluid rotation — several of the Yankees’ best starters are on the mend from major injuries — that might need to scrape out more wins this year than in the past two. The AL East is going to be a six-month tug-of-war. Tighter competition means more probable save chances and, with Bednar’s raw talent, more converted saves. — Cockcroft
Tampa Bay Rays
Chandler Simpson +900 to record 60 steals
He’s one of the fastest men in baseball — if not the fastest — and, if you pro-rate his 2025 steals total to 162 games played on the MLB roster, he’d have finished with 59.4. The question with Simpson is his defense, as his minus-9 Defensive Runs Saved ranked him among the majors’ worst outfielders, but the Rays are also hardly loaded with better alternatives. They’d be best off letting him play regularly and drive opposing pitchers crazy on the basepaths. In such a role, he’d be a virtual shoo-in to reach this threshold. — Cockcroft
Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays 14-1 to win the World Series
The Blue Jays were two outs away from a 2025 World Series championship, then invested a collective $337 million on four free agents (Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto, Tyler Rogers and Cody Ponce). This wouldn’t be the first time that a team got its first taste of the Fall Classic, then won it the following season. See the 2014-15 Kansas City Royals and 2021-22 Houston Astros (not to mention five other teams this century to make it to back-to-back World Series). These are 6.7% implied championship odds and the PECOTA projections have the Blue Jays with an 8.5% chance of winning. — Cockcroft
Chicago White Sox
Will Venable 30-1 to win AL Manager of the Year
Let’s have some fun! Making the playoffs is not a prerequisite to winning this award. Sometimes, it can actually hurt one’s chances if the team was “supposed to win.” The White Sox just need to significantly improve on last season’s 60 wins, which is entirely plausible. Their over/under is 66.5, so they’re already expected to improve. Maybe the young pitching comes together sooner than expected. Perhaps Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery take the next steps forward, while Munetaka Murakami learns how to handle high heat. There is a pathway to 75 wins in the AL Central, which should catch voter’s attention. — Zola
Cleveland Guardians
Cade Smith 22-1 to lead the majors in saves
Guardians relievers have logged more saves than any other bullpen over the past three seasons. The percentage of Guardians wins that were saved is second to only the Rockies over that period, but Colorado won 93 fewer games over that stretch. Saves typically dovetail along with team wins and ERA and, while the Guardians are mid-pack in wins since 2023, their team ERA is the best in the league. In his 150 MLB appearances, Smith’s ERA is 2.42 with 45 holds and 17 saves. The team should provide him with enough opportunities for him to seal the deal. — Zola
Detroit Tigers
Kevin McGonigle +900 to win AL Rookie of the Year
In a season without an overwhelming favorite, having just a “solid” freshman season could be enough to take home the hardware — and McGonigle profiles as more solid than flashy. His hit tool is his bread and butter, though in a full season he has a floor of double-digit homers and steals, with a shot at 20/20. Additionally, the Tigers have incentive to play him so they can be awarded an extra draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. — Zola
Kansas City Royals
Vinnie Pasquantino -110 to record 30-plus regular-season HR
Admittedly, I’d like more juice here, since so much more can go wrong than can go right when backing the over. That said, if Pasquantino can come anywhere close to last season’s 160 games and 682 plate appearances, the new dimensions in Kauffman Stadium should help him at least match last season’s 32 homers, especially since Statcast’s xHR mark was 35.5. — Zola
Minnesota Twins
Luke Keaschall -125 to record 20-plus regular-season steals
Keaschall checks most of the boxes; he exhibits solid on-base skills, steals bases with a high success rate and should play nearly every day. The only catch is he’s only played 49 games at the major league level, albeit with a .382 OBP and 14-for-17 stealing bases. Prorating that to a full season, Keaschall would eclipse 40 stolen bases. I’ll take the chance he gets halfway there. — Zola
Athletics
Brent Rooker +170 to record 35-plus HR
At +170, we need just a 37% chance of hitting this bet to make it positive expected value. My projection system (THE BAT X) is forecasting Rooker to hit 34 home runs on average, so it’s safe to say we are well over that 37% threshold. Plus, what THE BAT X doesn’t know is that Rooker went to Driveline this winter to improve his exit velocity, which sat in just the 64th percentile last year. His bat speed was in the 72nd percentile. So, with as much power as Rooker already has, there is indeed plenty of room for improvement, giving us some further hidden edge on this bet. — Carty
Houston Astros
Tatsuya Imai +135 to throw 150-plus regular-season strikeouts
In his last two seasons with the Saitama Seibu Lions, Imai logged 337 innings and fanned 365 batters. There is no reason why he can’t register 165 frames this season, giving him a big cushion to absorb a drop in strikeout rate and still punch out at least 150 hitters. He’s only 5-foot-8 and he throws from a low arm slot, creating deception. He has five pitches in his repertoire, including a four-seamer with unusual riding action. Imai should also benefit from hitter unfamiliarity. — Zola
Los Angeles Angels
Zach Neto +105 to record 30-plus regular-season steals
Neto stole 30 bases over 155 games in his rookie season, but dropped to just 26 in 128 contests last year. He started the season late as he was recovering from shoulder surgery, then lost the last 16 games of the season due to a hand issue. Matching last season’s pace over a conservative estimate of 150 games gives him 31 bags. Based on his first two seasons, while taking the over on 30 steals isn’t a great bet, it’s slightly more than a 50/50 venture, and it pays a little juice. — Zola
Seattle Mariners
Bryan Woo 20-1 to win the AL Cy Young
While Skubal is far and away the favorite for the AL Cy Young (as he ought to be), the odds on Woo look enticing. THE BAT X has him projected for the third-highest WAR among AL starting pitchers at 4.4 andl while that’s two full wins below Skubal, it’s more than pitchers with shorter odds like Jacob deGrom (13-1), Hunter Brown (13-1), Cole Ragans (13-1) and Max Fried (17-1). Outperforming Skubal will be difficult, but there is always way more uncertainty in an upcoming season than we want to believe. Plus, there is always the chance of injury to Skubal to give us another significant out. — Carty
Texas Rangers
Wyatt Langford 30-1 to win AL MVP
Langford has played 134 games in both of his first two seasons, averaging a modest 19 HR and 20.5 SB per year. While it’s a stretch to project him to play over 150 games in 2026, if he does, then a 25/25 campaign is realistic. And if that’s realistic, then a 30/30 season is within reach. This isn’t a prediction that Langford will shake the core injuries plaguing him last season, but he did spend the offseason in a training regimen to address the issue. This is acknowledgment that there is a best-case scenario pathway to Langford being the AL MVP. — Zola
National League
Atlanta Braves
Spencer Strider 22-1 to lead the majors in strikeouts
Strider led all of baseball with 281 strikeouts during the 2023 season and nobody has come close to that number since. Strider missed most of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery and he struggled at times last season, when he made a total of only 23 starts. Expect a fully healthy Strider to resume missing bats at a high rate in 2026. — Karabell
Miami Marlins
Robby Snelling 45-1 to win NL Rookie of the Year
One of the top pitching prospects in the sport, Snelling should get a full season of opportunity for Miami. He sure looks ready after posting a 1.27 ERA, an 0.98 WHIP and a 32.9% K rate for Triple-A Jacksonville. Snelling will surely get noticed if his run prevention is anything like that once he joins the Marlins rotation. — Karabell
New York Mets
Juan Soto 45-1 to lead the NL in steals
Well, didn’t Soto just do this in 2026? OK, so Soto tied Oneil Cruz for the NL lead with 38 steals and perhaps few think he will repeat the feat. Soto certainly isn’t the fastest runner — not like Cruz or Elly De La Cruz or Corbin Carroll — but he can certainly steal myriad bases if he so desires. These odds are so long (Soto sits behind more than 20 players), that it feels worth the risk to find out. — Karabell
Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Schwarber 35-1 to lead the majors in RBI
Schwarber led the majors with 132 RBI in 2025, so it seems odd that nearly 20 others boast better odds to do this in 2026. Schwarber’s RBI upside is somewhat dependent on whether he bats in front of or after teammate Bryce Harper (who has better odds to lead in RBI), but Harper probably isn’t hitting 50 home runs, either. — Karabell
Washington Nationals
Harry Ford 75-1 to win NL Rookie of the Year
Ford wasn’t going to play much in Seattle with Cal Raleigh around, but the opportunity is there for him in Washington. These odds are long — and perhaps too low. Ford produced an .878 OPS at Triple-A Tacoma, with 16 home runs in 97 games. It may be a rough season for the Nationals, but Ford has a chance to shine. — Karabell
Chicago Cubs
Edward Cabrera -110 regular-season ERA under 3.91
For a 13-game stretch in the middle of last season, Cabrera posted a 1.95 ERA and an 0.96 WHIP, with 81 strikeouts and only 21 walks over 73 2/3 innings. Marlins Stadium has the reputation of being a pitcher’s park and, while it suppresses homers, the venue actually favors hitters. Now, he routinely will take the mound in Wrigley Field, which boosts strikeouts while lessening runs. Plus, the lineups in the NL Central aren’t as potent as those of the NL East. — Zola
Cincinnati Reds
Chase Burns 60-1 to win the NL Cy Young
My new pitcher “stuff” model, THE BATcast, absolutely loooooves Burns, placing him in the top 10 in baseball in terms of pure “stuff.” After accounting for this, THE BAT X has him projected for the seventh-best ERA in the NL this year. Odds like this on a player with this much talent and ceiling are crazy-good, even if there are questions about how much volume Burns will get this year. Many of those questions also exist for fellow youngsters like Jacob Misiorowski (30-1), Nolan McLean (35-1) and Eury Perez (45-1), inexplicably all with much shorter odds than Burns. — Carty
Milwaukee Brewers
Brice Turang +135 to have 70-plus RBI
Turang’s power outburst was one of the most unexpected developments of 2025, but the adjustments he made to his batting stance and swing fully supported the change. Over the season’s final two months he had top-15 hard hit and top-45 Barrel rates. This prop has Turang regressing by 11 RBI, which seems unlikely when considering his adjustments and the likelihood that he’ll be regularly slotted in more run-producing lineup spots (second through fourth) this year. — Cockcroft
Pittsburgh Pirates
Don Kelly 10-1 to win NL Manager of the Year
You might have thought we’d take Konnor Griffin for NL Rookie of the Year, but Griffin’s scorching start to spring training has narrowed his odds to +280 there, giving this prop more value. Kelly steered the Pirates to a 59-65 record after taking the helm last May and the team appears to be on the rise with the offseason additions of Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna, a full season of rookie Bubba Chandler in the rotation and, yes, the potential debut of Griffin. Plus, we all know how this award’s balloting typically goes when a team overperforms expectations (79.5 wins per the PECOTA projection). These are sub-10% implied odds, but Kelly’s odds should probably be better than that, given he’ll be leading one of the stronger teams with a chance to surprise in 2026. — Cockcroft
St. Louis Cardinals
Victor Scott II 20-1 to to lead the majors in steals
Last season, Scott swiped 34 bases in 38 tries. He appeared only 138 times as he missed 15 games in August thanks to a sprained ankle. Scott spent the offseason using motion-capture study to revamp his swing, with the goal of decreasing strikeouts and hitting more ground balls. He has also been working on bunting this spring. Scott and the club are leaning into his 100th percentile sprint speed and, since they are in rebuilding mode, there’s no reason to give the red light to the 25-year-old speedster. — Zola
Arizona Diamondbacks
Ketel Marte +110 to record 30-plus regular-season HR
Marte has only reached the 30-HR milestone twice in his career — and one was back in 2019, the “happy fun ball” season. The other was in 2024 when he cleared the fence 36 times in 136 games. Last year, he hit just 28 in 126 games, which prorates to 30 over 136 games. This is more about betting that Marte will play at least 136 games than it is judging his power. Even so, his underlying power metrics are on the upswing, including hitting more fly balls, with a higher average exit velocity. — Zola
Colorado Rockies
Chase Dollander +130 to throw 120-plus regular-season strikeouts
Dollander spent the offseason with T.J. Galenti, a noted data-driven performance coach. The 24-year-old right-hander reports that a flaw in his delivery was found, which should now improve both his fastball and slider command and control, along with recapturing the induced vertical break on his heater. These stories are a dime-a-dozen, but Dollander’s pedigree is worth trusting. If he weren’t on the Rockies, he’d be talked about in the same vein as Bryan Woo, Hunter Greene, Chase Burns, Nolan McLean, and Jacob Misiorowski (among others) — all young, fledgling aces. This isn’t wins or ERA. It’s strikeouts and if Dollander can log 120 frames, fanning one batter per inning is well within reach. — Zola
Los Angeles Dodgers
Will Smith +160 to record 25-plus regular-season HR
Smith had a down year (by his standards) in 2025, hitting just 17 home runs. Part of that can be attributed to him losing time in September due to a hand fracture, as well as managing a lingering ankle injury through the early portion of the season. All of this led to extra rest and (perhaps) weakened performance. Despite this, Smith posted a career-best Barrel% (12.2) and average exit velocity (90.3 mph), leading THE BAT X to have the most aggressive forecast for him this year among public projection systems: 24 home runs in 497 plate appearances. He’s eclipsed that plate appearance projection in four of the last five years, so there is certainly upside beyond that number. Still, even if that’s all he can manage, we’re sitting at close to a coin flip on a bet that requires just 38.5% to be +EV. — Carty
San Diego Padres
Jackson Merrill +105 to record 160-plus hits
Merrill’s 2025 was plagued by injuries, but he’s young and with some of the best all-around hitting skills when healthy. Add to that his strong September numbers (.270/.320/.626 and 7 HR), which only strengthens his “rebound case” for this season. He totaled 162 hits as a rookie in 2024, despite falling short of 600 plate appearances, but as the Padres’ likely No. 2 hitter, he should breeze past that PA threshold and pile up the hits. — Cockcroft
San Francisco Giants
Logan Webb 20-1 to win the NL Cy Young
Webb isn’t the flashiest pitcher in baseball, but his durability and consistency make him a sneaky-good candidate to be a Cy Young winner at these odds. He projects for more innings pitched than any other NL pitcher and he also projects for the third-highest WAR at 5.0. That’s less than one win below the Cy Young favorite, Paul Skenes, who is priced at a mere +225. — Carty
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