⚾ MLB Futures Bets to Make Before Spring Training Opening Day: MLB Awards, Team Futures

I generally prefer to wait until spring training games are coming to an end to place the majority of my MLB futures bets, but there are definitely exceptions to the rule, and these are five MLB futures bets to make before spring training Opening Day on Feb. 20.

In certain cases, you want to get in before any games are played because the odds can shorten dramatically with just a few swings of the bat.

💰 MLB futures bets to make before spring training: What I've bet so far

As you can see, I attacked the win totals market first, and it's paid off in multiple cases. The Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates are already trading at one to two wins more than when I bet their Over, and the Tampa Bay Rays' total is also set one game higher.

I recommend you bet on the win totals market as soon as 2026 standings projections come out, because the longer those sit, the best sports betting sites will move the totals closer to the leading projections.

With spring training games set to begin today, here are five more MLB futures bets you should make before you wake up one day next week and that price you loved is gone.

👀 5 MLB futures bets to make before spring training: Team futures

There are two teams I'm especially interested in betting on before spring training games begin, with both being featured in the bets I've already made. Buy these teams before it's too late.

🫅 Royals to make the playoffs (+160)/to win the AL Central (+225)

Both of these prices can be found at DraftKings, and as you saw above, I already bet the former myself. I probably wouldn't bet both, but would instead choose which one you're more confident in.

I believe the Royals could shock a lot of the people who are doubting them as we head into spring training. They feature a genuinely dangerous lineup, and a very solid rotation led by an AL Cy Young candidate - which I discussed further in my look at 10 MLB players to watch this season 2026 - and a bullpen to support those star hitters.

The Cleveland Guardians are cooked as far as being AL Central contenders. Their second-half miracle run last season was cute (unless you're a Detroit Tigers fan), but they're not going to repeat that feat. As for the Tigers, I still believe they're the best team in the division, but do I think they should be +120 favorites compared to +225 for the Royals? No, probably not.

AL Central projected standings 2026

This division should be priced closer to what we see in the NL East - Mets at +165, Phillies at +180, Braves at +190 - with the third team (the Guardians, in this case) trading at much longer odds. 

So, why should you bet this now? Well, I think this price is going to shorten if Jac Caglianone starts annihilating the ball in spring training, or if rookie Carter Jensen looks like the real deal, or if Noah Cameron continues to pitch well following a season in which he put up a 2.99 ERA, and it especially will if all those things happen.

Between the Tigers and Royals, Kansas City has much more to gain during spring training in terms of public perception, so I'd rather get in now before it catches up to how I already view the Royals.

🏴‍☠️ Pirates to make the playoffs (+425)/to win the NL Central (+800)

Most of what I wrote about the Royals applies to the Pittsburgh Pirates, so I won't beat a dead horse here. Essentially, I think the Pirates are infinitely better than the best sports betting apps are giving them credit for. But I think we're just a couple of spring training games away from our edge shrinking.

I've featured the Pirates throughout plenty of articles in the last couple of weeks, from my look at the MLB playoff odds to the MLB rookies to know before spring training 2026 to my 10 breakout MLB players to watch this season. Neither of the latter two even mention that they roster arguably the best pitcher in baseball and made a number of very intriguing offseason veteran additions to both the lineup and bullpen.

I already bet on the Pirates to go Over their win total, and I think I'm going to take my own advice to bet on them to make the playoffs when I'm done writing this.

👀 5 MLB futures bets to make before spring training: Player futures

I think you can and should wait until spring training games are coming to an end to place most player futures bets, but there are some cases in which you'll want to get in early before the sites with the best sportsbook promos adjust on certain players they may be either too high or too low on.

🏆 National League Rookie of the Year

I'm going to stick with the Pirates here for a second and look at the NL Rookie of the Year market. I spoke about Konnor Griffin in my look at the MLB rookies to watch, and I, too, am very excited about him. However, I mentioned there that I'd like to bet his +600 odds. Well, those have disappeared in the blink of an eye. 

Griffin is now the favorite at DraftKings, and I just can't get behind that. Yes, he's looked incredible so far, but this is a 19-year-old who isn't even guaranteed to make the Pirates' Opening Day roster. So, I'd use this opportunity to buy on players such as JJ Wetherholt, Nolan McLean, Sal Stewart, or Griffin's teammate, Bubba Chandler, before either he looks overmatched against MLB pitching or it's reported that he'll begin the season in the minors.

Players can still absolutely win Rookie of the Year even if they start the season in the minors. But, if that's the case, he won't be the favorite anymore, and you'll have gotten a better price on those contenders priced right behind him now, and then also on Griffin himself once the season starts.

🏆 American League Cy Young

I'm going to expand my focus here from a single player to an entire team: the Seattle Mariners. 

The Mariners have three bona fide AL Cy Young contenders, and I think all of them are being priced too long. I spoke about Bryan Woo in my 10 players to watch, and I mentioned Logan Gilbert in passing, too. But it isn't just them. Has everyone forgot that George Kirby was one of the best pitchers in the AL as recently as 2024?

Kirby is coming off his worst year in terms of surface-level stats, but his peripherals still looked really good, and I loved that he increased his strikeouts. Kirby recorded career-bests in swinging-strike rate and CSW, and it was an uncharacteristically high number of walks that burned him. That won't repeat itself in 2026, and I think we could see a Cristopher Sanchez-like leap from Kirby this year.

Meanwhile, Woo finished fifth in Cy Young voting last year and Gilbert finished sixth the year prior. I think all three of these pitchers should be priced shorter than the likes of Jacob deGrom, Hunter Brown, and Max Fried, and I'd buy before the baseball community remembers how ridiculous they all are.

🏆 MLB MVP

AL MVP: Yordan Alvarez (+3500 via FanDuel) | NL MVP: Elly De La Cruz (+3000 via FanDuel)

Both of these players stand out not only because they're being undervalued in this market, but also because they're being especially undervalued at FanDuel. DraftKings has Alvarez and De La Cruz at +2500 and +2200, respectively, while FanDuel is offering significantly longer odds.

For Alvarez, 2025 was a complete disaster of a season. First, he broke a bone in his hand, which was originally misdiagnosed as a strain. He missed 100 games as a result after starting the season very slowly - I theorized then that he played at least a couple of weeks with a compromised hand. Then he came back and went absolutely nuclear ... before spraining his ankle in what he described as a "freak accident."

But Alvarez remains one of the very best hitters in baseball, and with four of the top six AL MVP favorites being power-first hitters - Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Nick Kurtz - the Houston Astros slugger can absolutely win this award with a return to form. Since 2021, Alvarez has the third-highest wRC+, behind only Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

As far as Elly De La Cruz is concerned, he didn't miss any time last season. He battled through all 162 games despite suffering a quad injury in July, and you can absolutely see how much it affected him.

In 97 first-half games, De La Cruz was a legitimate NL MVP candidate (yes, even in a world where Ohtani exists). He was sixth in the NL in fWAR and looked to be on pace for potentially a 30-50 campaign. His second-half numbers, though, are hideous in comparison.

De La Cruz is reportedly feeling much more like himself now, and he's the exact type of player who can remind people of the superstar he is in a hurry.

Both of these players are far more real threats to the favorites in these markets than the odds at FanDuel suggest, so I'd get in now before they show out during spring training.