Insights and advice for betting MLB in September

The push to the MLB postseason is on, and the division races have tightened following July and August baseball. So have the American League and National League Wild Card races with the NL West the best division in baseball in August. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the most games in August (19) with the Brewers while the Padres, Diamondbacks and Astros all won 18 games. Follow along as we get in the batters box again and take a swing on the baseball dimeline, urr, diamond and update teams schedules, odds, key September series and games with information you can bet on. 

The Dodgers have a MLB-high 82 wins and the best record in baseball at 82-54 and less than 30 games remaining in the regular season. 

Two divisions are separated by teams in tight races within 2.5 games of top spot in the AL East and AL Central. Only the Milwaukee Brewers 10 game lead in the NL Central is secure. The Dodgers matched the Diamondbacks and Padres, both Wild Cards, with a strong August to hold a 6.0 game lead over both those teams in the rugged NL West. 

Leading online sportsbooks are reporting plenty of action on popular player props with BetOnline noting that sharp bettors continue to take advantage of dimelines offered along with promotions and props.

#MLB key games Aug 23-25. @OffShoreGaming
HOU @ BAL
TEX @ CLE
NYM @ SD
STL @ MIN
PHI @ KC
AZ@BOS
TB@LAD
Tight Div races CLE leads MIN & KC by 2 games, NYY leads BAL by 1.5 & LAD lead SD & AZ by 4. Most wins Aug-AZ 14, SD/LAD/HOU 13, MIL 12, MIN/CHC/SF 11 https://t.co/LX4WO6ZCUg

— Fairway Jay (@FairwayJay) August 23, 2024

Standings, Records And Key MLB Series And Odds In August 

Adjusted futures odds are added to compare, and understand in the most wins market that number of games for each teams vary in the month. The tiebreaker for most wins is fewest games played in the month.

American League

AL Central 

Cleveland (77-59)
Kansas City (75-62)
Minnesota (73-62)
Detroit (69-68)
Chicago (31-106)

August records: CLE (12-17), KC (15-13), MIN (14-14), DET (17-11), CHI (4-22)

The White Sox go 4-22 in August after a 3-22 July, and Chicago is on pace for the all-time MLB record for losses in a season. The Guardians have poor month of August and both the Royals and Twins are in the division race within 3.5 games of AL Central lead despite the Royals losing 4-in-a-row and Twins losing 5-of-6 to close the month. The Tigers win 7-of-9 to finish August and are now 5.0 games behind for the final Wild Card spot.

AL East

New York (79-57)
Baltimore (78-59)
Boston (70-66)
Tampa Bay (67-68)
Toronto (67-71) 

August records: NYY (14-12), BAL (13-15), BOS (13-15), TB (12-15), TOR (16-12)

The Orioles lost the division lead to the Yankees, and still a very tight race with the Yankees leading and Orioles currently No. 1 Wild Card ahead of Royals and Twins with the Red Sox 3.5 games behind Twins for final No. 3 Wild Card. The Yankees lost 3-of-4 to close August with only a pair of 3-game winning streaks their longest of the month. The Orioles also lose 3-of-4 to close August with their longest winning streaks in August just 2 games. The Rays have a losing month and are 6.0 games out of a Wild Card while the Blue Jays win 16 games in August, most in the division but remain in last place. 

AL West

Houston (74-62)
Seattle (69-67)
Texas (64-72)
Oakland (59-77) 
Los Angeles (56-80) 

August records: HOU (18-10), SEA (12-14), TEX (12-15), OAK (14-12), LAA (9-19)

The Mariners had back-to-back losing months through a summer spiral that came to a head with the firing their manager in late August. Former Mariners great catcher Dan Wilson took over. The Astros have back-to-back winning months and most wins in the AL for August, 18, just ahead of the Tigers (17), who I bet on at triple-digit odds, urrr. The defending World Series champions Texas Rangers are 8-games below .500 and will miss the 2024 MLB playoffs. The Oakland A's (coming to Las Vegas in 2028!) had back-to-back winning months to get out of the basement in the AL West. That position is now occupied by the LA Angeles, who deserve such for hiring 'dope' Ron Washington as their manager in 2024. The Angels were 9-19 in August which followed 11-14 in July. 

Key games and schedules 

Sept. 2-4: Cleveland at Kansas City / 
Sept. 6-8: Minnesota at Kansas City / 
Sept. 9-11: Kansas City at NY Yankees / Baltimore at Boston
Sept. 12-15: Boston at NY Yankees
Sept. 13-15: Baltimore at Detroit
Sept. 16-18: Detroit at Kansas City 
Sept. 16-19: Minnesota at Cleveland   
Sept. 17-19: NY Yankees at Seattle
Sept. 20-22: Minnesota at Boston
Sept. 23-25: Seattle at Houston
Sept. 24-26: Baltimore at NY Yankees  
Sept. 27-29: Houston at Cleveland / Baltimore at Minnesota

Bet on MLB Baseball at one of these Elite-rated sportsbooks!

National League 

NL Central

Milwaukee (80-56)
Chicago (70-66) 
St. Louis (68-68)
Cincinnati (64-73)
Pittsburgh (55-53) 

August records: MIL (19-9), CHI (18-8), STL (12-16), CIN (12-17), PIT (8-19)

The Brewers have the biggest division lead in baseball into Sept. (10 games) after going 19-9 in August and tied with the Dodgers with the most wins for the month. A pair of 6-game winning streaks and a 5-game win streak to close the month has the Brewers in a tight NL race for a No. 1 or 2 seed and first round bye in the playoffs. The Cubs started August in last place in the NL Central and won 5-straight to close the month and move into 2nd place following an 18-8 record in August to surge back into the Wild Card race. The Cardinals are falling out of the playoff race as other teams surge ahead while the Reds are rolling the wrong way after 12 wins in August playing the most games in the month (29) - tied with the Guardians and Marlins. The Pirates had a disastrous month and worst in the NL with just 8 wins. A 10 game losing streak starting Aug. 4 was against the three top teams in the NL West.

NL East

Philadelphia (80-56)
Atlanta (74-62)
New York (72-64)
Washington (61-75)
Miami (50-86) 

August records: PHI (15-13), ATL (16-13), NYM (15-13), WSH (12-15), MIA (10-18) 

The Phillies and Braves matched each other in August overall and also 3-3 head-to-head and Philadelphia holds a 6.0 game division lead into Sept. The Phillies are in a very tight race with the Dodgers and Brewers for a top-2 NL record and first round playoff bye. The Mets had another winning month but are just behind the Braves by 2.0 games for the final Wild Card spot into Sept. The Mets are 48-30 since June 1, but started August 4-6 playing 10-straight road games. The Nationals and Marlins look forward to next season and playing more call-ups in Sept and Miami is a NL-worst 25-44 at home this season and battling the Rockies for the worst record in the National League. 

NL West

Los Angeles (82-54)
San Diego (77-61)
Arizona (76-60)
San Francisco (68-69)
Colorado (51-86) 

August records: LAD (19-8), SD (18-9), AZ (18-9), SF (15-13), COL (12-16) 

The Dodgers stay on top of the NL West and surge ahead with 19 wins in August to tie the Brewers as best in MLB. I cashed a small monthly bet on Los Angeles (10/1) with most wins as they win tiebreaker playing one fewer game than Milwaukee. The defending NL champions Diamondbacks won most wins in July, and have another strong August to join the Padres as top-2 Wild Cards into September but unable to make up ground on the Dodgers in the NL West. The Giants had back-to-back winning months, but remain 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. The Rockies are battling the Marlins for worst record in the National League.  

Key games and schedules 

Sept. 1-2: LA Dodgers at Arizona
Sept. 2-4: St. Louis at Milwaukee
Sept. 3-5: Arizona at San Francisco 
Sept. 6-8: San Francisco at San Diego 
Sept. 9-11: Chicago Cubs at LA Dodgers
Sept. 10-12: Milwaukee at San Francisco
Sept. 13-15: Milwaukee at Arizona / NY Mets at Philadelphia
Sept. 13-16: LA Dodgers at Atlanta
Sept. 16-18: Philadelphia at Milwaukee / 
Sept. 19-22: Arizona at Milwaukee / Philadelphia at NY Mets
Sept. 23-25: Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia
Sept. 24-26: NY Mets at Atlanta / San Diego at LA Dodgers
Sept. 27-29: NY Mets at Milwaukee / San Diego at Arizona

Interleague

Sept. 2-4: Boston at NY Mets
Sept. 2-5: Detroit at San Diego
Sept. 6-8: Cleveland at LA Dodgers / NY Yankees at Chicago Cubs / Arizona at Houston
Sept. 10-11: San Diego at Seattle
Sept. 16-18: Houston at San Diego
Sept. 27-29: Kansas City at Atlanta

MLB Teams Odds For Most Wins In September

+530: LA Dodgers
+665: NY Yankees, Phillies
+900: Orioles
+1000: Astros
+1200: Diamondbacks
+1700: Braves
+1800: Padres
+2200: Cubs, Twins
+2600: Guardians
+2800: Mariners
+3000: Brewers
+4000: Red Sox
+4500: NY Mets, Royals
+5000: Pirates, Rangers
+5500: Cardinals
+8500: Tigers
+9000: Blue Jays
+9500: Rays, Giants
+15000 >: All others

Odds To Win The 2024 World Series

MLB game and futures odds from OSGA Elite-rated Jazz Sportsbook and leading online sportsbooks refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live betting. BetOnline and Jazz Sportsbook also offers MLB series odds, team totals, game and player props, alternate runs and more. MLB adjusted World Series odds as of Aug. 31. 

+350: Los Angeles Dodgers
+500: Philadelphia Phillies
+550: New York Yankees
+750: Baltimore Orioles
+850: Houston Astros
+1200: Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres
+1400: Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals
+1600: Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks
+1800: Minnesota Twins
+6000: Seattle Mariners, New York Mets
+10000: Boston Red Sox
+25000: Chicago Cubs

The National League (-120) is a slight favorite to win the World Series over the American League (-110).

Follow along and compare the futures and season win totals and monitor the team schedules, injuries and key series as the leading online sportsbooks adjust the odds and post daily MLB odds and matchups throughout the 2024 MLB season. 

You can bet on it. 

FairwayJay is recognized as a leading sports betting analyst providing insights and information you can bet on here at OSGA. Follow him on X @FairwayJay for more sports betting news and insights.

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