The best championship bets to make in all four major professional sports

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) celebrates with the bench after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Photo by: Chris O'Meara / AP

The busiest stretch of the sports calendar is quickly approaching. October is the only month of the year when all four of the country’s biggest major professional sports are in action, so now is the time to prepare accordingly from a betting perspective.

Betting futures is a good way for the masses of recreational gamblers to establish some rooting interest without poring over the day-to-day matchups and intricacies of each sport.

So let’s celebrate the end of the baseball season and the arrival of hockey and basketball to join football’s midseason accordingly. I’ve dug through all the championship odds at all nine licensed sports betting apps licensed in Las Vegas to find the most valuable wager available in each.

World Series

Seattle Mariners at 13-to-1 STN Sports

The Major League Baseball postseason is notoriously high variance, especially with the expanded 12-team format in place since 2022.

It’s hard to justify backing one of the favorites even though the Los Angeles Dodgers look tempting at as high as 5-to-1 with their pitching rotation finally healthy and solidified. They’ve underachieved in the regular season, but there’s no question they have the most talented roster in baseball.

The Mariners should be in the conversation for second-best roster—at least in terms of well-roundedness. Seattle’s lineup has been better than expected with the emergence of switch-hitting slugger Cal Raleigh and the trade-deadline acquisition of Eugenio Suarez.

There’s never been any question about the Mariners’ pitching ability. A Dodgers vs. Mariners World Series feels most likely, and the price on the latter is much more palatable.

Super Bowl

Green Bay Packers at +725 (i.e risking $100 to win $725) Circa Sports

Jumping on the Packers could be seen as an overreaction to their red-hot start to the season, especially considering they were as high as 16-to-1 to win the Super Bowl in the offseason.

But it might be more dangerous to underreact to how dangerous they looked in stifling two of last year’s final four NFC teams, the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders, to start the season. Green Bay’s only surefire weakness in training camp looked like its pass rush, and it has since added the best pass-rusher in the NFL in former Dallas Cowboys edge Micah Parsons.

The early returns make it look like Green Bay has the NFL’s best defense by a wide margin. The offense is elite, too, with the constant improvement from quarterback Jordan Love and the veteran leadership and consistency of former Raiders running back Josh Jacobs. 

The Baltimore Ravens still rate out as the best overall team in the NFL by most metrics, but the Packers are a close second and their price is almost twice as high.

Stanley Cup

Tampa Bay Lightning at 16-to-1 Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook

The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are listed as the clear favorite at as low as 5-to-1, but there’s a reason no NHL team has three-peated in more than 40 years.

Don’t forget that the Panthers looked more beatable for a large part of last season too. In fact, they were underdogs in two playoff series—to the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final and in the first round against the in-state rival Lightning.

Yes, they rolled in both showdowns, but the Panthers’ roster is only getting older and more injury-prone with all the extra games played throughout three straight trips to the Final.

The Lightning, which went back-to-back in 2020 and 2021, have extended the championship window by getting younger, including most notably letting franchise linchpin Steven Stamkos walk last offseason and using the space to sign underrated star Jake Guentzel.

NBA Finals

Cleveland Cavaliers to win the Eastern Conference at +255 Circa Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder loom large as the likeliest NBA Finals champion, but their price is around +250 and they must first get through the Denver Nuggets. Denver, which won the title in 2023, pushed Oklahoma City to seven games in last year’s Western Conference semifinals and should be improved this season.

Why not bypass both of them and just bank on the Cavaliers being the team waiting to challenge the winner of what feels like the inevitable Thunder vs. Nuggets showdown? Cleveland and Oklahoma City were both historically dominant last season, but no one remembers the former after they bowed out of the playoffs in a shocking Eastern Conference semifinal upset loss to Indiana.

Cleveland, with a young roster led by reigning Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and scoring maestro Donovan Mitchell,should be even better this year while the rest of the East is weakened. The Cavaliers won’t collapse again.