MLB Preview & Betting Guide

2025 World Series Recap

Who Won the World Series? It was back-to-back wins for the LA Dodgers, who retained their World Series title.

Heading into the postseason, the Brewers ended up finishing in the top spot in the National League with a 97-65 (0.599) record, but went into the postseason with just two wins from their final seven games.

In the other league, the Yankees and the Blue Jays finished with identical records of 94-68. The Yankees headed into the postseason in great form, having won their last eight regular games, whilst the Blue Jays won their final four games.

The 2025 champions, the LA Dodgers, were another team heading into the postseason in form. Despite only finishing third in the National League, they regular season on a five-game winning streak, something they achieved the previous season too.

The Dodgers used their momentum to make it to yet another World Series, and they didn't have too much trouble on their route there either. They beat the Reds 2-0 in the Wild Card, beat the Phillies 3-1 in the Division series and then crushed the Brewers 4-0 in the Championship series to book their place.

The other side of the bracket was a lot closer. The Yankees made it out of the Wild Card to set up a tie with the Blue Jays in the Division series. The Blue Jays came out 3-1 winners to set up a Championship series against the Mariners, which needed all seven games, with the Blue Jays coming out 4-3 series winners.

That set up a Dodgers vs Blue Jays World Series, the Dodgers looking for back-to-back titles, the Blue Jays making their first World Series appearance since going back-to-back in 1992-93! It was the first time these two had met in the World Series, and it was one which needed all seven games to decide the winner!

The series flip-flopped, the Blue Jays went 1-0 up, the Dodgers then went 2-1 up, the Blue Jays went back in front 3-2 before the Dodgers made it 3-3 and took it to game 7! That game needed 11 innings to be decided. Going into the 8th, the Dodgers were 4-2 down, but runs in both the 8th & 9th made it 4-4 and then won it in the 11th!

Past World Series Winners

Below are the last ten World Series champions:

Which League has produced the most World Series Wins?

Since 1903, there has been a total of one hundred and twenty-one World Series, there was no World Series in 1904 and again due to players striking nothing in 1994 and it is the American League who holds the upper hand, with sixty-eight World Series wins compared to the fifty-three from the National League.

In more recent times, it has been much closer, since 2000, fourteen of the twenty-six have gone to National League sides, with the other twelve going to the American League sides, so there has not been a great deal between them in recent years, although the NL have now won five of the last seven.

Who are the most successful team in the World Series?

The New York Yankees have made a total of forty-one World Series appearances, their first coming in 1921 when they lost 5-3 to the Giants, a year later it was much of the same, being beaten 4-0 by the Giants in the world series but they got their revenge a year later when winning their maiden title in 1923 beating the Giants 4-2. They have now notched up a total of twenty-seven World Series wins, which is sixteen more than anyone else. They have also lost fourteen times, meaning they have a  65.9% win rate when making the World Series, but their last success was in 2009, and that, along with 2024, are the only World Series they have made since 2004.

The St. Louis Cardinals are next on the list but that is still some sixteen wins less than the Yankees, they have picked up a total of eleven wins from nineteen World Series appearances, and they have placed in four since 2004, they lost in 2004 but won it in both 2006 & 2011 but were again beaten in 2013 so in terms of win percentage in the world series, despite winning eleven their win percentage is 57.9%.

The Athletics are 64.3% (9 wins & 5 defeats), and the Red Sox are 69.2% (9 wins & 4 defeats), and they have been joined on nine World Series wins by the 2025 champions, the LA Dodgers, who have now made 23 World Series, which means their win rate is worse than the Cardinals with just a 39.1% success rate in the World Series.

How to Be Successful at MLB Betting

One way is to follow the statistics. Long-term statistics can be great guidance when picking out your MLB bets; however, statistics can only tell you one thing, so it is also always worth considering factors like which Umpires are taking charge of the game. If you are looking to back the game totals then always look at the Weather, the strength of the wind can play a big factor for this market, look for the wind strength and if it is anything over 4 mph then the under total would be more preferable is blowing towards home base if it is blowing away from the home base then overs would certainly come into play.

When it comes to statistics, you can look at things like teams who perform at home, for the five seasons between 2021-25 there are a total of twenty-three teams who have a win percentage of under 60% when a home favourite, ideally, you would want a better outcome than that, the best-performing team at home are the 2024 & 2025 World Series winners, the LA Dodgers who have a record of 270-130 which is a win percentage of 67.5% and the shorter priced they go, the higher the percentage rise which is what you would expect. It's all about finding the right balance between success bets and value odds. Backing them each time they were 1.80 or shorter over the five seasons would have seen a 67.5% success rate; however, backing them at 1.50 or shorter, that rises to 73.0%, and as you would expect, as the odds get shorter and shorter, the success rate rises.

• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.8 or shorter 255-123 (.675)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.7 or shorter 237-111 (.681)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.6 or shorter 190-88 (.683)
• Los Angeles Dodgers at home @ 1.5 or shorter 138-51 (.730)

Another couple of teams with a good set of figures over the timespan are the Philadelphia Phillies, who have a home record of 222-120 (64.9%) when favourites and also the Cleveland Guardians whose record is 166-91 (64.6%), those two teams along with the Dodgers are the only three teams over the last five years to have a success rate of 64% or better when favourites at home.

There are only three teams who when on the road when favourites have a win rate of 61% or better which when you consider they are on the road is an excellent return, those teams are the Baltimore Orioles who rank best with their 60-33 (64.5%) record, the Atlanta Braves who are 166-99 (62.6%) and the Los Angeles Dodgers who are 218-134 (61.9%), whilst the team to avoid on the road when favourites are the surprisingly the 2023 World Series champions, the Texas Rangers who have a poor 56-63 (47.1%) record.

Backing the Underdog

If you can find yourself an underdog angle to bet on which is successful, then that is one of the most profitable ways to go about things. An underdog is a team that is the bigger of the odds, meaning they are not favourites to win the game, so finding an angle is difficult because they are not fancied to win.

The value is mostly going to come when teams are playing away from home; however, the Mariners at home are worth a mention. Between 2021 and 2025, they were underdogs in 120 games at home, and their record was 66-54 (55.0%), so a winning percentage.

There are two teams when it comes to winning underdogs being away from home, top of the pile are the Bewers with their 109-89 (55.1%) record, they show a profit with an ROI of 22% which is the best record of the teams.

The other team are the Astros; they have an 81-73 record on the road when underdogs, meaning they have won 52.6% of those games, along with an ROI of 14.42%.

Here are the top five profitable teams on the road when underdogs, based on ROI:

• 22.00% - Milwaukee Brewers
• 14.42% - Houston Astros
• 12.42% - New York Yankees
• 9.96% - Cleveland Guardians
• 7.42% - Baltimore Orioles

Are teams successful by Month?

The question here is, can teams be more successful at certain times of the season compared to others? The simple answer is yes based on statistics but we also have to remember there are other factors, did a team have a top player on the injured list during certain months, did they spend more time on the road in one month compared to another, did that team get horrible weather and so on meaning whilst the statistics offer one angle, we have to remember the other factors.

For example, the Brewers tend to start the season well with a 62.5% win record in April over the past five seasons which is the highest of any of the teams, however, they seem to struggle to retain their form into May, in fact, their May win rate of 51.08% is the lowest month during the regular season so they go from their best to their worst in conductive months!

The Dodgers are consistent; they don't drop below a 56% win rate during the regular season, August being their best month, where they have 73.19% of their games, and September is their second best, so a strong finishing franchise.

 Along with the Dodgers, when looking at strong finishes to the regular season, you have to note the Braves, for both August (62.41%) and September (59.85%), their win rate is above 60%; only they and the Dodgers have achieved this.

Below is a table of the best-performing and worst-performing teams for each month of the season. What will be interesting is how the OLBG baseball tipsters support or oppose these teams during those months mentioned. Remember to head over to the baseball picks to see those predictions.

Teams to follow and oppose each month based on ROI

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