The Los Angeles Dodgers historically open the 2026 Major League Baseball season with near 2-to-1 odds to three-peat as World Series champions.
No team in the last 10 years has come close to that mark — besides the 2025 Dodgers — with the second and third most favored teams climbing well over 10-to-1 odds.
Since the Dodgers’ complete takeover of baseball over the last three years, it’s unnecessary to debate who’s the best team in the league before the season. However, the topic of second-best comes down to persistent squads threatening LA’s tyranny.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are the only team in baseball to have tasted topping the Dodgers in last year’s fall classic, coming two outs shy of hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy. Toronto enters 2026 with a fresh pitching staff and a sour taste in its mouth.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the spark plug in Toronto’s American League conquest, but he arrives this season without his right-hand man, Bo Bichette. Guerrero Jr. and Bichette both debuted in 2019 and developed through the minor leagues together, but will be on separate teams for the first time in 10 years.
While Bichette departed for Queens in free agency, Toronto joined the international signing pool and inked Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year contract. Along with the biggest addition to the lineup in Okamoto, Toronto signed the premier pitching free agent Dylan Cease to an exorbitant seven-year, $210 million deal.
The Blue Jays shocked by evolving the most well-rounded offense last year and winning the most games in the AL. Since falling just pitches shy of winning the World Series, Toronto has improved its roster and potentially has the second-best shot in baseball to win its third franchise title.
Seattle Mariners
Similar to the Blue Jays, the Seattle Mariners came a hair shy of reaching glory last year, taking Toronto to a Game 7 of the ALCS. There have been nearly 50 years of Seattle baseball, and they still remain the only team never to appear in a World Series. However, experts predict that to end in 2026.
The Mariners likely have the best 26-man roster in the American League. Offensive superstars like Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez are backed up with a rotation that’s matured through the major leagues together. Seattle’s top three starters: Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo, could interchange in starting Opening Day to Game 7 of the World Series.
It feels there’s no hungrier team than the 2026 Seattle Mariners. A World Series appearance would be an incredible accomplishment on its own for this team, but nobody goes to the World Series just to play in it. Seattle has the talent to get the job done, and a fresh ALCS loss on the mind could be enough motivation to push the Mariners over the edge in 2026.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies come as the first National League team on this list, making their path to a title even more difficult. The Phillies are coming into their fifth consecutive year of World Series-or-bust aspirations, yet to climb the mountain.
Since reaching the fall classic in 2022, their season outcomes have declined. A seven-game NLCS loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks came a year later, followed by back-to-back NLDS exits after winning the NL East. The Phillies are ever so slowly decaying while harboring one of the best rosters in the sport, and remain a threat to the Dodgers in 2026.
Behind the prodigy of Paul Skenes, Philadelphia had the second and third place options in the NL Cy Young race. Cristopher Sanchez returns as their game-one guy, with the return of Zack Wheeler this April, who suffered a blood clot in August that required surgery. Their rotation is still among the best in the league, rounded out with Aaron Nola and Jesus Luzardo.
The front office has kept the offensive core of Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber intact, while keeping support bats like Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott in the lineup. The offense hasn’t seen a big change-up since Turner’s addition in 2022. Now, for the fourth year in a row, the Phillies will roll out the same dangerous lineup, still searching for a title.
New York Yankees
The 2026 New York Yankees simultaneously have the most fragile yet emergent roster in the MLB. Three-time MVP Aaron Judge enters his age-35 season while team veterans like Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton are going on 36.
We’ve seen a healthy Yankee lineup that executes with a Cy Young atop their rotation and an offense that clicks around one of the best power hitters of all time. We’ve also seen significant stretches with inconsistent hitting, undisciplined fielding and baserunning with a distrustful bullpen.
It just matters which version we get. At the peak of their potential, New York could win 100 games and be well on their way to a 2024 World Series rematch with Los Angeles. The Yankees could also slide late in the year and miss the postseason entirely with 85 wins. The competitive AL East, with Toronto, allows little room for error. New York knows the strength in their starting rotation; it’s just tying the rest together that’ll determine wins or losses.
Honorable Mentions
First, the Boston Red Sox polished off the best starting pitching room this offseason by signing Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray. It’s time in Fenway to sit back and watch a full season of Roman Anthony, with the offense being the make-or-break variable of this team.
Two other NL teams, the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets, should stay on the docket all season as well. Chicago keeps getting better every year, and the Mets had one of the largest roster turnovers in recent history.
Even though the Dodgers are heavy World Series favorites, the full 162-game baseball season breeds original storylines and nail-biting moments. A handful of teams have the capacity to attack the two-time defending champs, teeing up for another entertaining, unpredictable season of Major League Baseball.
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