MLB playoff odds and picks 2023: wild card, World Series, MVP - ESPN

The 2023 MLB playoffs are here with the wild-card round beginning Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET. The American League best-of-three series will feature the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, with the winner facing the Baltimore Orioles, and the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins playing for the right to square off with the defending champion Houston Astros in the division series. In the National League, the winner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers series will play the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Atlanta Braves await the winner of the showdown between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins.

Are chalk plays the right move this October?

The past three World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves (+275, 2021 winner), Los Angeles Dodgers (+475, 2020 winner) and Houston Astros (+500, 2022 winner), are the top three in terms of title odds this October. They're closely followed by the American League's winningest team, the Baltimore Orioles (+650).

That said, each enters the postseason facing questions that might not have been present a few short weeks ago.

The Braves, considered the prohibitive favorites, have two key rotation members in Max Fried and Charlie Morton currently on the injured list.

The Dodgers, playing in their 11th straight October and winners of 10 division titles in that time, have a rotation fronted by 35-year-old Clayton Kershaw and with only one other active pitcher (Bobby Miller) who has made more than 12 starts for them.

The Astros squeaked into an AL West title on the regular season's final day, but otherwise were a .500 team over the season's final seven weeks.

The Orioles, meanwhile, learned on Saturday that closer Felix Bautista, a key cog in one of the game's best bullpens, requires