The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers will face off for Game 1 in Chavez Ravine tonight at 8:08 PM ET. Just Baseball’s Peter Appel is here to give you his five Best Bets for the World Series ahead of first pitch tonight.

Just Baseball is partnered with BetMGM. If you haven’t already made a BetMGM account, use code JUSTBASEBALL to claim your $1500 First Bet Offer, which can be used on any of the best bets below.

Also be sure to play BetMGM’s Bullpen Jackpot throughout the World Series. If you wager at least $10 on a player to hit a home run and opt in to the Bullpen Jackpot, you’ll be eligible to win up to $50,000 in bonus bets if the player you bet on hits a home run into the bullpen. There have been two bullpen homers at Dodger Stadium and two bullpen homers at Yankee Stadium in the playoffs thus far.

World Series Betting Preview

Five Best Bets to guide you through the World Series.

Yankees to win the World Series +110 (2 Units)

I wrote over 4,000 words on justbaseball.com on why I believe the Yankees are the side to bet in this series. Click over to my article here if you want to read in more depth.

In summary, this feels like a coin-flip series. The Dodgers have the better offense and bullpen, but the Yankees have the better starting rotation and defense. The Dodgers’ advantages on offense and in the bullpen are slim, as the Yankees are right there with them. The true advantage lies in the starting pitching, as every pitcher on the Dodgers has a question mark.

After reviewing everything, the Dodgers are the slightly better team. I think the Yankees will have a slight advantage on a game-by-game basis, considering their explosiveness against right-handed pitching. If you simulated this series 1000 times, I think both teams win 500 times meaning I make this series price -110 on both sides giving the Yankees value at +110.

Juan Soto World Series MVP +525 (0.25U)

Juan Soto enters the World Series with three home runs and a 1.106 OPS, which has followed an incredible regular season in which he had a .989 OPS and 41 home runs.

What Juan Soto has riding for him on his quest for a World Series MVP is a knack for coming up in the biggest moments. Soto’s three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 gave the Yankees the lead and sent them to the World Series. Soto leads all players this postseason in Win Probability Added and Clutch Factor.

Aaron Judge’s struggles in the postseason have been glaring and if the Yankees win this series, it will likely be on the back of Juan Soto.

Giancarlo Stanton World Series MVP +1000 (0.1U)

Giancarlo Stanton is the hottest hitter on the planet right now and is the MVP of the Yankees postseason thus far. I’ll be backing Stanton in three separate ways that I think give us an edge including Stanton to win World Series MVP at +1000. Ohtani is the clear favorite in this market at +220 with Soto and Judge behind him around +500 and Mookie Betts behind them at +750.

Stanton comes into the World Series with five home runs and a 1.179 OPS and to say Stanton has been locked in is an understatement. The most impressive part of Stanton’s postseason beyond the towering home runs has been his excellent plate discipline. His strikeout rate of 17.9% is well below his regular season strikeout rate of 31.2% and he’s even raised his walk rate 5% in the playoffs. It’s clear that Stanton is seeing the ball really well right now.

Stanton is being undervalued in this market and should be closer to Mookie Betts odds at +750. When Stanton is seeing the ball this well, he is one of the best hitters in baseball.

Giancarlo Stanton to Lead Series in Home Runs +325 (0.25U)

Stanton has a whopping 70.4% hard hit rate paired with a 21.6 degree average launch angle in the playoffs. This means Stanton is hitting the ball hard in the air with consistency. It’s the perfect mixture for hitting home runs, especially when factoring in that the Dodgers only have one left handed pitcher on their roster and Stanton is historically better versus right handed pitchers.

This season, Stanton had 22 home runs with an .803 OPS versus righties and only 5 home runs and a .705 OPS versus lefties.

Giancarlo Stanton Postseason Home Run Leader +200 (0.5U)

Stanton is currently tied with Mark Vientos with five postseason home runs. Mookie Betts is right behind with 4 home runs, and everyone else in the World Series is at 3 home runs or less. So, if Stanton hits one home run, he moves into the lead with Betts (4), Muncy (3), Soto (3), Ohtani (3) trailing behind with major ground to make up.

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