It was an incredibly busy 2025 MLB trade ddeadline, with a dizzying array of deals right before the 6 p.m. ET Thursday deadline. NL contenders like the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies improved, the Minnesota Twins traded 10 players off their roster (including Carlos Correa going back to Houston) and the San Diego Padres executed yet another stunning deadline deal.
In all, there were 52 trades in the final 48 hours and 14 in the final half hour before the deadline. When the dust settled, the MLB landscape changed and plenty of World Series odds shifted.
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“The Mariners made my favorite moves at the deadline,” BetMGM trader Halvor Egeland said Friday. “They had such a gap in their offense. I’ve thought they’ve been a few moves away for 3-4 years now. The rotation has been awesome, but now that lineup doesn’t have a huge hole. I firmly believe they’re a World Series contender, and I don’t know if I would’ve said that before adding those two bats in Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez.”
Seattle had 28-1 odds to win the World Series before the deadline, and got as low as 15-1 before settling at 18-1. Caesars Sportsbook MLB trader Eric Biggio told me the Texas Rangers (40-1 to 28-1) and San Diego Padres (28-1 to 18-1) were the two teams whose odds shifted the most at his book.
Here are some of the other MLB teams that had the most notable changes to their World Series odds at BetMGM due to deadline moves.
Winners
San Diego Padres
Pre-deadline odds: 35-1
Current: 17-1
Egeland: “They may not have much of a future with how they acted, but the present looks pretty good. Already had a dominant bullpen and then they get Mason Miller, who has one of the best arms in baseball. Even little trades like Nestor Cortes, they’re going all out. They’re three games behind the Dodgers, so you can’t just write in L.A. now [as the division winner]. They also just swept the Mets. They went all out once again. They didn’t trade Dylan Cease, so they kept their pitching. The doubt may be that they don’t have the deepest starting pitching. The only thing holding them back is they’re in the NL.”
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Texas Rangers
Pre-deadline odds: 66-1
Current: 25-1
Egeland: “They’re an interesting one. We’ve been kind of shortening even before deadline moves. They already had the strength of starting pitching, but grabbing Merrill Kelly was a big move. That’s an awesome rotation now. BetMGM traders thought they were a threat this offseason. We think the AL West, any one of those three teams can make a run in the playoffs, so Rangers I would consider a win. A little bit of a team we always had our eye on, so we’d like to be short on. Won 12 of their last 16.”
Houston Astros
Pre-deadline odds: 13-1
Current: 11-1
Egeland: “Another big winner, a team that’s going for it. Awesome to see Carlos Correa coming back — one of the deals you heard happening and wrote off. Added [Jesus] Sanchez from Mariners and [Ramon] Urias — two quality bats, and they have some pitching coming back from injuries.”
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New York Mets
Pre-deadline odds: 13-1
Current: +850
Egeland: “You have to like what the Mets did. Their primary needs were bullpen and center field. They shocked the world in less than an hour [getting Ryan Helsley]. They went from having an average, at best, bullpen to having the best, maybe for a few minutes before the Padres got Miller. Cedric Mullens is another great add. I think a lot of Mets fans wanted Luis Robert, but price was too steep. Mullens solidifies center field, and New York didn’t give up any of the younger guys in the lineup now.
Philadelphia Phillies
Pre-deadline odds: +950
Current: +850
Egeland: “Another team that got better. Jhoan Duran is going to be electric in Philly. Another high-leverage arm with a big price tag. Harrison Bader is a great defender and has his moments offensively. Yet another NL contender.”
Losers
Detroit Tigers
Pre-deadline odds: +650
Current: +950
Egeland: “A little performance-wise as well. You have to be disappointed at what Detroit did. With how the AL is and the Tigers seemingly one of the top contenders, you would’ve hoped they would have done more.”
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Milwaukee Brewers (13-1 to 18-1) and Chicago Cubs (10-1 to 12-1)
Egeland: “Both teams you would’ve expected to do more. Similar to Dodgers, we still hold them in high regard, but other teams improved more.”
Minnesota Twins
Pre-deadline odds: 100-1
Current: 1,000-1
Egeland: “We don’t consider them a threat at all this year. I think I wrote down, ‘Sheesh, see ya later.'”
The Favorite
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pre-deadline odds: +225
Current: +250
Egeland: “It’s hard to really critique the Dodgers with how they’ve built their team. We pushed them out a little bit, not because they got any worse, but a lot of contending teams in the NL got better. If we’re going to move other teams in, gotta move them down.”
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