Can the Yankees break MLB's regular-season wins record?
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If nothing else, $324 million buys you a lot of hype.
That's the money it took for the New York Yankees to sign superstar pitcher Gerrit Cole this offseason - a move that immediately made them 2020 World Series betting favorites.
There's been so much hype, in fact, that you can now wager on whether the Yankees will win 117 games, surpassing the all-time MLB record shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Will Yankees set MLB's regular-season wins record? | Odds |
---|---|
Yes | +800 |
No | -1400 |
Are those odds worth a wager?
There are certainly reasons for optimism. For one, Cole will help address a major area of concern after Yankees starters combined for just a 4.51 ERA in 2019. That mark could improve by close to a full run with healthy seasons from Cole and Luis Severino, who will join James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka in a rotation that also offers plenty of depth with J.A. Happ, Jordan Montgomery, and Domingo German.
Additionally, an underrated move this offseason was New York's hiring of pitching coach Matt Blake, who brings a lot more to the table from an analytics perspective than former pitching coach Larry Rothschild did.
Those improvements could give the Yankees one of the best starting rotations in the majors this year. Considering New York will also field one of the most potent lineups in baseball, there's a reason we're hearing chatter about a potentially historic season.
However, winning 117 games takes more than an elite roster. It also requires a ton of luck - something that wasn't on the Yankees' side in 2019.
Injuries were a prevalent theme in the Bronx last summer, with the Yankees missing a number of key players for long stretches of the season. Severino appeared in just three regular-season games and Giancarlo Stanton was limited to 18. Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit, Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier, and Aaron Hicks were among the others who were sidelined for prolonged spells due to injury.
Getting all of those guys back healthy will be a massive boost for a team that still won 103 games in 2019. It's another reason some bettors believe history could be made in 2020.
But back to the luck factor: There's simply too much that must go right for a team to win 72% of its games in a grueling regular season. For that reason, it's tough to justify betting on a win total that's never been reached in the 117-year history of MLB.
You may disagree. As you think it over, here's a look at every team's over/under win total for the upcoming season.
Team | Win total |
---|---|
New York Yankees | 101.5 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 98.5 |
Houston Astros | 97.5 |
Minnesota Twins | 91.5 |
Tampa Bay Rays | 91.5 |
Atlanta Braves | 90.5 |
Oakland Athletics | 90.5 |
Boston Red Sox | 88.5 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 88.5 |
Washington Nationals | 88.5 |
New York Mets | 87.5 |
Chicago Cubs | 86.5 |
Cleveland Indians | 86.5 |
Cincinnati Reds | 85.5 |
Los Angeles Angels | 85.5 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 85.5 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 84.5 |
Chicago White Sox | 83.5 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 83.5 |
San Diego Padres | 83.5 |
Texas Rangers | 77.5 |
Colorado Rockies | 74.5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 74.5 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 70.5 |
San Francisco Giants | 70.5 |
Seattle Mariners | 67.5 |
Kansas City Royals | 65.5 |
Miami Marlins | 64.5 |
Detroit Tigers | 56.5 |
Baltimore Orioles | 56.5 |
Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.