2022 American League Pennant Betting Odds

Major league baseball (MLB) consists of 30 teams divided equally between two leagues, the American League (AL) and the National League (NL).

When we are looking to make a bet on the AL Pennant winner, we are trying to predict which of the 15 American League teams will represent the AL in the World Series Championship.

With 15 different teams to bet on, the odds are significantly more attractive for this type of futures betting compared to betting on individual games.

An experienced bettor might try a strategy of picking multiple teams with good chances of making the playoffs, but not necessarily a World Series favorite.

With MLB having expanded the total number of teams who now qualify for the playoffs, just being able to have a futures ticket or two on some teams who qualify for the postseason would be an exciting ride.

Throughout a 162-game season, the teams with more stars and skill have time to overcome injuries and slumps and still separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

The playoffs are a much quicker format which provides a lot of opportunities for upsets to occur.

A key injury or a couple of players in a mini-slump can be the difference between victory or defeat.

2022 American League Pennant Odds

Favorites

Toronto Blue Jays – This past offseason the Blue Jays lost reigning Cy Young award winner Robbie Ray and last year’s MVP candidate Marcus Semien to free agency.

However, Kevin Gausman was signed to replace Ray, Matt Chapman was acquired from Oakland to patrol the hot corner and if George Springer can bounce back from a knee injury, Toronto has a lineup that will terrify opponents’ starting pitching.

Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez, Springer, and others make Toronto the scariest offense in the American League and the frontrunners to win the AL pennant.

Houston Astros – Last year at this time the Houston Astros were +1033 to represent the AL in the World Series. Six months later, the Astros saw their World Series hopes fall just short, losing in the Fall Classic to the Atlanta Braves.

Justin Verlander looks to be healthy and back to his old form. The dangerous Houston offense has some young star-power in Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez, to go along with proven veterans Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman and others.

With the Oakland A’s in full tank mode this season, Houston looks to be the overwhelming favorite to win the AL West division, and shouldn’t have any issues making the playoffs this year.

Chicago White Sox – Last year the Chicago White Sox had a great start to the regular season and catapulted themselves to the top of the AL pennant odds list by the time mid-June rolled around.

The White Sox had little competition in the AL Central division last year, and not being pushed more might be the reason they were just an average team in the second half of the schedule.

This year, Minnesota is expected to push the South-Siders for the Central division crown. If that is the case, the Sox might enter the playoffs this season in a little bit better form than last.

Contenders

New York Yankees – With a projected payroll of over $245 million, the New York Yankees continue to show their fans they are willing to do whatever it takes to play postseason baseball.

Unfortunately for Yankees fans, New York was unable to lock up all-star outfielder Aaron Judge to a long-term contract.

This means the Yankees slugger will become a free agent at the season’s end, assuming the two sides live up to their word about not negotiating during the season.

New York’s possible long-term loss could be their short-term gain. Judge will be motivated with free agency looming. He has the talent to carry a team to the playoffs with his bat. Whether he can carry them past teams like Toronto and Houston is still to be determined.

Tampa Bay Rays – Where their divisional rivals from New York like to spend their way to the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Rays prefer to use their keen eye for under-priced talent and their analytics department to continually compete within the loaded AL East division.

Last season it was the Rays who were once again the class of the AL East division, finishing ahead of New York, Boston, and Toronto and securing their fourth playoff appearance in the last 10 seasons.

A 40% playoff appearance rate is pretty impressive when they have a payroll ranked 25th out of 30 teams.

Boston Red Sox – When you have a lineup that consists of Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, JD Martinez, and Trevor Story, you can be assured that your offense is going to score some runs.

Hard to believe that a team with such firepower finds itself projected to be a playoff bubble team, but that speaks to the depth and talent of the entire AL East division, except of course those lowly Baltimore Orioles.

Nathan Eovaldi leads a pitching staff that has more questions than answers at this point. However, if the SP sorts itself out in time for October baseball, Boston will be a team nobody else wants to match up against in the playoffs.

Longshots

Minnesota Twins – The Minnesota Twins must have caught the attention of their fans this past offseason when they dropped just over $100 million to sign longtime Astros shortstop, Carlos Correa.

Many believe great baseball teams are built up the middle. With Correa, Jorge Polanco at second base, and a healthy Byron Buxton patrolling center field, Minnesota has the chance to put up some big offensive numbers this season.

The starting pitching in Minnesota has potential but also brings some concerns as well. A lot will be asked of Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, and Dylan Bundy.

If those three live up to expectations, the Twins could prove to be a great longshot bet.

Los Angeles Angels – Shohei Ohtani is the reigning AL MVP winner and currently the poster boy for Major League baseball.

Teammate Mike Trout has won four MVP awards and if healthy is one of the frontrunners again for the 2022 title.

Anthony Rendon finished third in NL MVP voting in 2019 and looks to be healthy and back to his past form. Offensively, the Angels should be just fine this year.

If Los Angeles can piece together a starting rotation that right now includes oft-injured Noah Syndergaard and highly touted rookie, Reid Detmers, expect the Angels to push Houston for the AL West division and have a shot at one of the three wildcard positions.

Why Bet American League Pennant Odds

Futures betting is a great way to give yourself a reason to root for teams throughout the entire season and doesn’t require daily strategy and research like betting on individual games.

Picking pennant winners can be a lot more challenging than picking the outcome of a single game between two teams.

The greater the challenge in this case, the greater the reward. Many bettors are drawn to the large MLB odds associated with these futures bets and the ability to spread money on multiple teams and still be profitable.

Futures betting can be a great way to help maintain a safe strategy and budget. With futures betting you can place a few wagers at the beginning of the season and watch those bets play out all season long.

There are no long winning or losing streaks with these types of futures bets.

American League Pennant Betting Strategy

The ups and downs of a major league baseball season can be exhausting. At the beginning of the 2021 season, the New York Yankees opened at the American League pennant favorites and +275 odds.

By the time mid-June rolled around, it was the Chicago White Sox who were the betting favorites in the American League.

By September, the eventual AL pennant winners, the Houston Astros took over as the favorites ahead of the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays.

We can see that a six-month season provides lots of opportunities for teams to be both good and sometimes not so good.

For a bettor to be good at futures betting, the most important skill is to recognize teams with the potential of being great, before they perform great.

The Houston Astros started the season at +1033 to win the AL pennant. By the time the playoffs started, they were +230.

The earlier a bettor was able to recognize Houston’s potential, the better the odds they bought them at.

Where Can You Find American League Pennant Odds

There are different names for this kind of bet, depending on the sportsbook you are using.

Once you are in the MLB betting section of your sportsbook, you will want to jump into their MLB futures betting section.

From there, you only need to find the bet called American League Pennant winner or League Winners as it is commonly referred to as well.

If you are living in a legal state or province within Canada or the United States and using one of the regulated sportsbooks for your location, you can be sure they have this type of MLB future bet in their product offering.

Recent American League Pennant Winners

Team	Record	Year
Houston Astros	95-67	2021
Tampa Bay Rays	40-20	2020
Houston Astros	107-55	2019
Boston Red Sox	108-54	2018
Houston Astros	101-61	2017
Cleveland Indians	94-67	2016
Kansas City Royals	95-67	2015
Kansas City Royals	89-73	2014
Boston Red Sox	97-65	2013
Detroit Tigers	88-74	2012

Looking to bet on the National League Pennant? The odds and breakdown of teams in the running for the title can be found in our in-depth guide.