Baseball Betting Online
The defending champion Houston Astros begin the 2023 Major League Baseball season as the favorites to win the World Series. The Astros beat the Phillies last season to win the title and Houston has won the American League pennant in four of the last six years. The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and New York Yankees are just behind the Astros in terms of World Series odds. The 2023 MLB regular season begins on March 30 and concludes on October 1. The 2023 MLB Playoffs begin on October 3 and conclude with the World Series that begins in late October.
A number of teams head into the 2023 MLB season as darkhorse candidates to win the title. The Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners are all listed at odds of less than 20-1 to win the title. Just outside of those teams in terms of darkhorse odds are the Cleveland Guardians, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers. Not to be totally forgotten in terms of World Series odds are the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. The longshot teams for 2023 are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals.
The 2023 Major League Baseball schedule will be a bit different this season. All teams will still play 162 games but this will be the first season where every team will play every other team at least once. The balanced schedule has teams playing a total of 52 games against divisional opponents, 64 games against other teams in their league and 46 interleague games.
The 93rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place on July 11th at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. The San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres will play a two-game series at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium in Mexico City on April 29–30. The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs will play a two-game series at London Stadium in London on June 24–25.
The 2023 MLB season will mark a change in terms of the rules with the most impactful being a pitch clock. There will be a timer between pitches of 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on base. The pitcher must start his motion before the timer expires or the pitch will automatically be called a ball. The batter must be in the box with no less than eight seconds remaining or an automatic strike will be called.
Another key rule change is that the shift will be banned. The defensive team must have no fewer than four players at infield positions, with at least two on each side of second base and infielders cannot switch sides of the infield before a pitch is released.
MLB will be broadcast by ESPN, FOX, FS1, TBS, Apple TV+, NBC Sports/Peacock and MLB Network. FOX will have Thursday and Saturday games, while FS1 will broadcast games on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. TBS will have Tuesday Night Baseball, while ESPN has Sunday Night Baseball. The MLB Playoffs will be shown on ESPN, TBS, FOX and FS1 with FOX getting the World Series.
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic returns in 2023 after not being held since 2017. The tournament was supposed to take place in 2021 but was cancelled in May of 2020 because of COVID. The 2023 World Baseball Classic will expand from 16 to 20 national teams with all of the teams from the 2017 tournament included in addition to four other teams. The 2023 World Baseball Classic will be held from March 8-21, 2023.
The United States team is listed as the +200 favorite, followed closely by the Dominican Republic at odds of +300. Japan is the only other team listed with odds of less than 10-1, as they are +450. Puerto Rico is listed with odds of +1400, while Cuba, Korea and Venezuela are each listed with odds just over +2000. Longshot teams include Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Israel, Panama, Colombia, Italy, Great Britain, China, Czech Republic and Nicaragua.
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