Toronto baseball fans will have an opportunity to marry their loyalty to the Blue Jays in the postseason to a financial interest for the first time since Ontario sportsbooks launched their legal market April 4.
Toronto secured homefield advantage for the first round of the playoffs when they beat the Orioles on Monday night in Baltimore in a game shortened by rain partway through the eighth inning.
That means when the Jays take on Seattle on Friday, Toronto will have the luxury of playing all the games of the best-of-three first round at the Rogers Centre. Never mind that looming behind the Wild Card round will be the well-rested Houston Astros, owners of the best record in the American League.
At DraftKings Ontario Sportsbook, Toronto is a -170 favorite to take the series against Seattle, which has +140 odds to advance to the next round. The Blue Jays have the second-best odds of any of the eight teams in the first round of the playoffs; the New York Mets are at -175 to oust the San Diego Padres (+145) in their National League series.
Toronto Blue Jays MLB Betting Odds in Playoffs
For the moment, attention is focused on the upcoming playoff series and the wagering odds at hand, but one can still look down the road for futures odds.
Heading into the Wild Card Round, the Blue Jays are +600 to win the American League pennant and +1500 to win the World Series at BetMGM Ontario Sportsbook. Seattle is +1000 to win its first AL pennant and +2500 to win the World Series.
Looking at past performance, Toronto and Seattle played seven times in 2022, all in the first half, with the Mariners going 5-2, including a four-game series sweep in Seattle in July. But the Jays were 2-1 at home back in May.
The betting favorites to win the World Series are the powerhouse NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers (+300), and the AL West first-place Astros (+400). At BetRivers Sportsbook Ontario, the Dodgers are +315 while the Astros are +385. We recommend shopping around a few different sites to get the best price for the wager you wish to place.
Toronto, second-place finishers in the AL East behind the New York Yankees with a 91-69 record going into Wednesday’s season-ending doubleheader against the Orioles, has momentum going into the first playoff round. When the Blue Jays clinched first-round homefield in Baltimore, it was their seventh victory in 10 games, and they had given up just eight runs in those seven wins.
First Toronto Appearance Since 2020
The last time the Jays were in the MLB playoffs was in the 2020 pandemic-abbreviated season when they finished 32-28 in the regular season and bowed out in the Wild Card round, falling to Tampa Bay in two games and scoring three total runs.
In 2015 and 2016, Toronto advanced to the AL Championship Series but fell short of the World Series.
Toronto’s two World Series championships were in back-to-back years, 1992 and ’93.
The last playoff appearance for the Seattle Mariners was in 2001 when they tied a Major League record for most regular-season wins. The Mariners’ 116 victories in 162 games that season tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who won 116 in 155 games. Despite that spectacular season, Seattle failed to reach the World Series, bowing out in the ALCS. Seattle has been to the MLB postseason three other times but has never played in a World Series.
MLB Playoff Format New for 2022
In 2022, baseball fans and customers at legal Ontario sports betting apps are being treated to a new playoff format.
This year, 12 teams — six from each league — qualified for the postseason. The single-game Wild Card game is no more and is replaced by the best-of-three Wild Card round, in which Toronto will play as the AL No. 4 seed against the No. 5 seed, Seattle. The winner of the Toronto-Seattle series faces the team with the best record in the AL, which is Houston.
The legal market for Ontario online casinos is still maturing, having launched in April. A subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, iGaming Ontario, said in its first quarterly report at the end of August that $162 million Canadian (roughly $120 million U.S.) in total gaming revenue was earned by 18 operators and 31 iGaming websites ending June 30.
The total handle was about $4 billion Canadian (almost $3 billion U.S) not including promotional wagers, and there were 492,000 player accounts in the quarter.
