MLB playoffs: Major League Baseball betting preview, TV channel and free tips

Baseball tips, best bets and predictions for the MLB playoffs featuring Houston Astros, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Where to watch

Live on BT Sport ESPN, from 1.08am Tuesday night

Best bet

Houston Astros to win the World Series
3pts 9-4 Sky Bet

Already advised

LA Dodgers to win the National League
2pts 4-1 Betfred, RedZone
New York Yankees to win the American League
2pts 13-4 Ladbrokes

MLB playoff preview

The MLB wildcard round begins with Milwaukee taking on Washington in the National League single-game knockout on Tuesday night.

Whoever prevails will face an extremely tough match in the Division Series as they will have to overcome the Los Angeles Dodgers, the NL’s best team.

Punters who followed Racing Post Sport's ante-post advice and backed the Dodgers and the New York Yankees to win their respective leagues will be on good terms with themselves as both outfits have a strong chance of going all the way to the World Series.

The Dodgers have cruised into the playoffs, with 106 wins putting them an extraordinary 21 games ahead of their divisional rivals. They were also impressive a year ago and, although they came up short in the Fall Classic, they could count themselves somewhat unlucky against a Red Sox team for whom everything went right.

The men from California have maintained their consistency for several seasons and are a nicely balanced side, equally good in terms of starting pitching and offence.

They go into the Division Series as hot favourites to make it through and progress to the World Series.

MLB playoff schedule

Wildcard games Single game
1.08am Tuesday night Milwaukee at Washington (National League)
1.09am Wednesday night Tampa Bay at Oakland (American League)

Division Series Best of five games
Thursday NL wildcard winners at LA Dodgers; St Louis at Atlanta
Friday AL wildcard winners at Houston; Minnesota at NY Yankees

Championship Series Best of seven games
October 11 National League
October 12 American League

World Series Best of seven games
Starts Tuesday, October 22

In the American League the Yankees also won their division with the minimum of fuss.

While there are major questions about their pitching, the quality of their offence is not in doubt, as British baseball fans saw at first hand in June when the Bronx Bombers bashed 29 runs in their two games in London.

They have scored 943 runs this season, the most in MLB, and if the pitchers can hold their own then they can cause problems for any opponents.

Going into the playoffs, though, one team are arguably better than the rest and it would be folly not to get the Houston Astros on your side. They won the World Series in 2017 and are certainly worth backing to triumph again.

They have won an impressive 107 games but their underlying stats (strikeouts, home runs, walks) are absolutely incredible and consistent with an outfit who would be expected to pick up around 116 victories over the season – a truly eye-catching figure.

Due to rest and travel days, teams can usually get away with using fewer starting pitchers in the post-season – the top three in their pitching rotation started seven of their eight playoff games last year – so they will be able to lean heavily on Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, two of the best starters in MLB.

They are in the top five pitchers in both Wins Above Replacement and Earned Run Average and give the Astros an outstanding chance every time they take to the mound.

Those stars are supported by a cracking bullpen, with the lowest ERA of any of the teams who have made it to this stage.

The Astros' offence strikes out only 18 per cent of the time, meaning they will be putting the ball in play a lot and heaping pressure on opposition defences, and Houston look poised to go a long way in the post-season.

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