2026 MLB Odds: Baltimore Orioles Greatest Guess to Win AL East

[ad_1] The snow is slowly melting, and the times are getting longer and hotter. Sure, Main League Baseball is again.

Properly, virtually again.

Spring coaching video games start this week, and we're a bit of greater than a month away from the return of the MLB common season.

We're coming off the excessive of one of many biggest World Sequence in baseball historical past and an epic Sport 7 that topped the Dodgers as the primary back-to-back champions because the Yankees of the early 2000s.

Now, 2026 guarantees to be one other thrilling 12 months.

With the season quick approaching, let’s check out the American League East and a wager that I consider affords great worth concerning the potential division champion.

This web page might include affiliate hyperlinks to authorized sports activities betting companions. Should you join or place a wager, FOX Sports activities could also be compensated. Learn extra about Sports activities Betting on FOX Sports activities.

Final 12 months, the group with the longest division odds and lowest win whole within the East, the Toronto Blue Jays, outperformed their last-place projection and gained the division on their strategy to the World Sequence. Will 2026 see one other lengthy shot repay within the ultra-competitive AL East?

I’m wanting on the Baltimore Orioles at +475.

In 2023, the Orioles gained 101 video games and gained the AL East. In 2024, the Orioles and Yankees had a season-long battle for the division, with the Yankees ultimately pulling away and popping out on high. That younger and promising Orioles group gained 91 video games however bought swept within the wild-card spherical by the Royals.

The Orioles’ disappointing postseason exit was an indication of issues to return, and 2025 was a season derailed by a cluster of accidents to the pitching employees and regression by a few of their gifted younger place gamers. This 12 months, nevertheless, may look extra just like the '23 and ‘24 seasons in what I anticipate to be a bounce-back 12 months in Baltimore.

The pitching rotation — not less than for now — is wholesome. Righty Kyle Bradish returned on the tail finish of final 12 months and is producing some buzz as a Cy Younger sleeper. Lefty Trevor Rogers emerged as probably the greatest arms in baseball final 12 months and, regardless of solely throwing 109 innings, he discovered his means onto the Cy Younger poll with a 1.81 period.

Shane Baz was as soon as a extremely touted pitching prospect and can possible see his stats enhance after leaving the hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Discipline following his commerce from the Tampa Bay Rays. Veteran Chris Bassitt was signed just lately. He's a strong innings-eater who gained 15 video games in 2022 and led the AL in wins in 2023 with 16, persistently logging 27 or extra begins yearly since 2019 (outdoors the 2020 shortened season).

The pitching is infinitely higher than it was final 12 months, and the offense ought to get a bump as effectively. All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso and outfielder Taylor Ward had been each added within the offseason, supplementing what appears to be a dynamic lineup. These two gamers mixed for 74 dwelling runs in 2025.

It’s a aggressive division, maybe the perfect in baseball, however the Yankees and Purple Sox did little or no over the offseason to enhance their groups and the Blue Jays must show they weren't a one-year marvel.