What Are The Odds For Mets, Blue Jays, Cardinals & Rays To Save Their Seasons?

Four teams find themselves on the brink of elimination on Saturday. And if you go by the limited major league history of best-of-three series, the odds are not in those teams' favor of salvaging their season. 

MLB doesn’t have a long history with 3-game series, but the odds aren’t great for teams that lose Game 1. And the #STLCards don’t have good memories when they have won Game 1. In 2020, there were 8 Wild Card series that were best of 3. Six teams that won Game 1 advanced. (1/2)

— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) October 8, 2022

Six of the eight teams that have gone down 0-1 in their best-of-three series have lost in two straight. But the other two teams that came back in Game 2 have gone on to win Game 3 as well. All of this data is from the 2020 Wild Card Series round. 

But if you look at the official betting odds from across the major sportsbooks, some of those teams down one game have a better chance than others of extending their seasons beyond today. 

The Toronto Blue Jays, for instance, are overwhelming favorites to beat the Seattle Mariners and force a 3rd game. All six major online books have the Jays at anything from -165 to -184 to win behind Kevin Gausman over Robbie Ray on Saturday.

The New York Mets, likewise, are huge favorites to have Jacob deGrom lead them to victory in Game 2 against the San Diego Padres and Blake Snell, at anywhere from -165 to -178 across all six books. 

The Cleveland Guardians and Philadelphia Phillies are the favorites to wrap up their series in two straight over the Tampa Bay Ray and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.

Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports