Top 10 prop bets for the 2026 MLB season

As we are a month into the Major League Baseball season, we are starting to get a decent sense of what teams will look like in 2026. You have teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves and Padres who are separating themselves early in the season as top dogs. You also have teams like the Mets who can’t seem to do anything right, and the Red Sox who just cleaned house with the coaching staff.
As standings start to take a very early shape, we take a look at 10 prop bets to consider.

All odds provided by bet365 Sportsbook & Racebook

10. Guardians to make the playoffs
Currently tied for the lead in the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland has struggled as of late, but is showing signs of being a team that can compete with the top teams in the league.

Several teams that expected to be at least decent this year are really struggling in the AL, including the Red Sox, Orioles and Astros. This leaves a window, at least for the time being, for the Guardians to create some space between themselves and other playoff contenders.

Bet $100 to win $115 on Guardians in the playoffs

9. AL Rookie of Year
Kevin McGonigle has been a huge boost for the Detroit Tigers and a big reason why they are tied for first in the AL Central.

The rookie shortstop knows how to get on base. He is seventh, not for rookies but in all of baseball, in batting average at .330 and eighth in on-base percentage at .423. He hasn’t shown a ton of power with only two homers, but he hits gaps and already has 11 doubles on the year to go along with a pair of triples.

His fielding speaks for itself, having only one error on 44 chances. This will be a piece the Tigers build around for a long time.

Bet $100 to win $210 on McGonigle to win AL RoY

8. AL West winner
This pick may come as a little bit of a shock to people considering they are currently in last place in the division, but Houston isn’t that far back. Yes, an 11-18 record to start the year is less than ideal, but only 4.5 games back in the end of April isn’t anything crazy to overcome.

The Astros have the pieces to turn their season around with bats like Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker. They also reunited their middle infield of Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve.

The starting pitching for Houston has been getting knocked around but if they can reign that in a bit, the offense will do their thing and it always seems that the Astros, at least of late, have managed to figure it out and have their hat in the ring when it comes to the fall.

Bet $100 to win $750 on Astros winning AL West

7. Home run leader
Speaking of the great bat of Yordan Alvarez, the lefty slugger is tied for the MLB-lead in home runs with 11.

Alvarez can really take advantage of a homer-friendly field in Daikin Park. Right field isn’t a bomb by any means and Alvarez has more than enough strength to push a ball to left field over the 19-foot high wall.

I think the HR race will really come down to Yordan and Aaron Judge down the stretch but it just seems that Alvarez is swinging his bat just a bit better than previous years, so let’s take a shot at the juicy price of +750.

Bet $100 to win $750 on Alvarez winning HR title

422ft on 4/22 pic.twitter.com/0v556kWDI1

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 22, 2026

6. Padres to make the playoffs
Even after a decent 18-9 start, the Padres still aren’t on top of the NL West because the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the division and hold a 19-9 record. Only one team gets that auto bid by winning the division and it will most likely be the Dodgers considering who is on their roster.

That being said, the Padres’ roster is no joke with Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado. Despite a slow start for Machado, we all know his has the skillset to get on the right path and be a big boost.

The Padres are still one of the better teams in the NL so if they can’t squeak out a division title, I have them taking a wild card spot.

Bet $170 to win $100 on Padres in the playoffs

5. NL Cy Young
It is almost laughable that some people would consider the start to the year from Paul Skenes a slow one. He has a 4-1 record with a 2.48 ERA. His stuff is starting to look more in form again after a rough opening outing for him where he didn’t even see the second inning.

Since then, the Pirates’ ace hasn’t given up more than one run in any performance. His WHIP is second-best in all of baseball at 0.72. The value on Skenes is too good not to add him to your watch list.

Bet $100 to win $175 on Skenes to win NL Cy Young

The Cheese Touch. ?? pic.twitter.com/lfnlpSw5x0

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 25, 2026

4. NL Central winner
Let’s move over to arguably the closest division race, even only a month in, the NL Central. The last-place Milwaukee Brewers are just 3.5 games behind the leading Cincinnati Reds.

The team we are going to look at here is the Chicago Cubs. Just a game behind the Reds, the Cubs are looking good of late, winning eight of their last ten.

Their offense has been their biggest weapon, scoring 149 runs thus far, good for fifth in the majors, leading to the league’s fourth-best run differential of +31.

Why don’t I think the Reds can keep up this success? Well they have a run differential of +1 and haven’t really put up a ton of runs, so they are escaping some games with close victories and that just can be sustained for 162 games.

Bet $100 to win $125 on Cubs winning NL Central

3. AL Central winner
We already spoke about the Cleveland Guardians and their neck-and-neck race with the Detroit Tigers. We highlighted the potential AL Rookie of the Year in Kevin McGonigle, but let’s talk about some other major pieces of this Tigers’ roster.

Both Javy Baez and Gleyber Torres have plenty of experience under their belts and have taken a more veteran-style role helping the young guys, but they are also producing good numbers as well.

On the mound, you have your ace who could very well be the AL Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal who is holding a 2.72 ERA and a WHIP just under 1.00.

With the White Sox and Royals this year, I do consider if one, if not the weakest division in baseball, so it will most likely be a two-team race between Detroit and Cleveland.

Bet $115 to win $100 on Tigers winning AL Central

2. AL winner
Despite a slow start, the New York Yankees are back in front of the AL East and I wouldn’t be shocked if they stayed there for the rest of the season.

Aaron Judge is tied for third in homers with 10 already but the bat of Ben Rice has really impressed me with an average of .326 to go along with nine dingers.

Where this team separates itself from the rest of the bunch is they are just one of two teams (Dodgers) who have given up less than 100 runs on the season. The pitching of Max Fried and Cam Schlittler has been dominant and you have Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole who are working their way back from injury who will boost the pitching staff even more.

Nobody across the AL seems they can matchup with the pitching staff and power bats the Yankees can put out night in and night out.

Bet $100 to win $300 on the Yankees winning the pennant

1. World Series champion
It is crazy to see that Shohei Ohtani is already -340 to win the NL MVP with just a month of baseball played. That’s how dominant this man is and he isn’t a one-man show in Los Angeles.

Max Muncy, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman are really making the lineup almost impossible to pitch to. There is always someone on deck that is a threat so you can’t really pitch around anyone in this lineup.

Then there is a three-headed pitching monster of Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto who seem so locked in and confident whenever they take the mound. You can see it in their face that they know they are going to pitch a gem when they are on the rubber.

If someone has a recipe on how to defeat such a powerhouse roster, let me know because they are no clear weak spots.

Bet $100 to win $185 on the Dodgers to win the World Series

Victory formation!

Dodgers x @Yaamava pic.twitter.com/iX8efvLYVT

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2026