World Series Opening Odds & Prediction: Dodgers Big Favorites to Beat Blue Jays in Game 1, Series

The Toronto Blue Jays are back in the World Series for the first time since 1993, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are the betting favorite by the World Series opening odds to become the first MLB champions to repeat in 25 years.

The Dodgers feature -220 odds to win the World Series at most sportsbooks after beating the Milwaukee Brewers in a four-game NLCS sweep. The Blue Jays' moneyline odds hover around +180 after a thrilling Game 7 win over the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS behind a historic blast from George Springer to snap Toronto's AL drought.

Below, we break down the opening odds for each team to win the series and to win Game 1, which begins Friday at 8 p.m. ET from Rogers Centre in Toronto. We also offer our prediction and favorite MLB picks ahead of Game 1.

📊 Live World Series odds

Our MLB player prop odds tool shows the best MLB odds for every market across legal sportsbooks in your area.

🔢 Dodgers vs. Blue Jays series odds

World Series opening odds for Dodgers vs. Blue Jays from our best MLB betting sites.

⚾ Dodgers open as favorites to beat Blue Jays in series, Game 1

While the Blue Jays (94-68) enter the World Series with the better record and home-field advantage in the Fall Classic, the Dodgers (93-69) are still the consensus favorite with no worse than -210 odds to win the series - implying a 67.74% chance of becoming the first MLB team to win back-to-back titles since the New York Yankees in 1998-00.

There's a reason Los Angeles was the favorite by the World Series look-ahead lines and at nearly every point in the nearly 12 months since taking home the Commissioner's Trophy last October: the 1-2-3 of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts is simply lethal, and these Dodgers have starting pitching in spades with a filthy, healthy, and well-rested rotation heading into Game 1 as a -150 favorite.

Still, Toronto earned home-field advantage in this series behind arguably the deepest 1-9 order in the major leagues, which carried the Blue Jays through a grueling seven-game series against a loaded Mariners rotation. That patient and relentless lineup is also the best way to force Los Angeles to turn to its bullpen, which is the one true Achilles' heel for last year's champions.

The Dodgers boast the edge in the season series, winning two of three at home in early August. The Blue Jays will host the first two games of this postseason clash before Los Angeles hosts up to three games ahead of two more in Toronto, if necessary.

🏆 World Series prediction & best bet

There's no doubt Toronto deserves its spot in the World Series after taking down the Yankees and Mariners with a flurry of timely hitting, gutsy performances from eventual Hall of Fame pitchers, and a defense that thrived on turning double plays.

That's a formula to win baseball games, and for that alone it's impossible to count out the Blue Jays. But it's also hard to find a reason to bet against these Dodgers.

In many ways, the Brewers presented a similar but potentially more arduous task for Los Angeles in the NLCS. Like Toronto, Milwaukee's strength was the resilience of an efficient lineup that could do damage from all nine spots, but the Brewers also boasted a top-five rotation and bullpen by wins above replacement in the regular season.

None of it mattered against the Dodgers, who erased that fearsome lineup with an even more potent rotation led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Ohtani - who combined for 86 of L.A.'s 108 outs while allowing just two runs across those 28 2/3 innings to sweep the Brewers.

I'm not expecting a sweep in this series; Toronto's lineup has a little more pop than Milwaukee's and can hang numbers than make it tough for even the Dodgers' Death Star lineup to overcome. But I'd be awfully surprised if this series goes to seven games, and I'm equally surprised that oddsmakers are gifting us nearly even odds on a six-game series win (or better) for the best team in baseball.

✅ Series prediction: Dodgers -1.5 (-115 via BetMGM)

1️⃣ Dodgers vs. Blue Jays Game 1 pick

One of the hardest things about playing in a winner-take-all game in the MLB playoffs is the sacrifices you make to get to the next round.

We saw it with the Mariners, who expended three of their best starting pitchers in a do-or-die Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. They ultimately won that 15-inning battle, but they lost the war when their usually sharp aces lost their touch against one of the best lineups in baseball in the following round.

That should all sound eerily familiar to Blue Jays fans, who benefitted from Seattle's arm fatigue in the ALCS but could pay the price for their own in the World Series after gutting out Game 7 behind six different pitchers - including three starters in Shane Bieber (3 2/3 innings pitched), Kevin Gausman (1 IP), and Chris Bassitt (1 IP), along with closer Jeff Hoffman (1 IP).

That alone isn't a death sentence for Toronto, but it's enough for me to side with the team I already think is the better side in this series ... one coming off a seven-day break following a 14-1 run in its last 15 games. Give me the Dodgers to win a tight one in Game 1.

✅ Game 1 prediction: Dodgers ML (-145 via Caesars)