The Philadelphia Phillies have been at or near the top of the World Series futures for most of the 2024 MLB season.

With the playoffs beginning Tuesday, the Phils are listed third behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. That’s the case across PA sports betting apps, with DraftKings listing the Dodgers, Yankees, and Phillies at +360, +425, and +475, respectively. FanDuel has the three teams at +350, +400, and +410.

The Dodgers have been ahead of the Phillies for most of the season on the futures boards, so it’s not a surprise to see the National League’s top seed as the World Series favorite. However, the Dodgers have a far less stable pitching staff than the Phillies do. They’ve had rotation issues basically all season and they have a ton of questions behind Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Of course, the Dodgers still have Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and a loaded lineup, but pitching gets you far in the postseason and the Phillies have more of that, at least in theory, with Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez backing up Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler.

You could make a good case that the Phillies have an easier path to the NLCS as well since the Padres/Braves winner faces the Dodgers. The Padres and Dodgers always play tight games and the Braves will try to stay alive with their top-end pitching, although that takes a hit if Chris Sale’s back injury keeps him out of the entire postseason.

The Yankees’ odds dropped because of how their bracket shapes up in the American League.


New York would not have to play the Astros until the ALCS and is viewed as a far better team than the Royals/Orioles winner, who would advance out of the Wild Card round to play the Yankees. Baltimore finished the regular season with a 5-1 mark, but went 6-11 in the 17 games before that in September, so there’s reason to be concerned with how they play in October.

The Yankees also have a tremendous front end rotation with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon that should pitch them into the ALCS.

However, it’s worth noting that, albeit a small sample size, three of the last four World Series participants began the postseason in the Wild Card round.

The Mets are going to be the popular pick to fill that role because of how they got into the postseason with the crazy comebacks against the Braves. The Tigers are the hot team to pick in the AL because of how they resurrected their season.

But this feels like the year not just for the Phillies, but for the top teams, to reclaim the postseason dominance, at least given the way all of them performed through 162 games.