Los Angeles Angels 2024 Betting Preview: Futures Odds & Prediction

The Los Angeles Angels have posted eight straight losing seasons and haven’t notched a playoff berth since being swept in the 2014 ALDS.

Both streaks are unlikely to end this year now that two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has left to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Angels averaged 75 wins in the five full seasons they employed Ohtani.

MLB odds expect Los Angeles to take a slight step back in its first season without Ohtani.

Angels Futures Odds

Win Total: 72.5
AL West: +5000
AL Pennant: +8000
World Series: +20000

Following a second straight 73-win season, Los Angeles has a MLB betting win total right around that range for this summer.

It marks the team’s lowest win total since it had a preseason over/under of 71 before winning 47 games in 1994.

The Angels have finished below their preseason win total for six straight seasons.

Angels’ recent win totals:

• 2023: 82.5 (73 wins)
• 2022: 84.5 (73 wins)
• 2021: 83.5 (77 wins)
• 2020: 32.5 (26 wins)
• 2019: 82.5 (72 wins)
• 2018: 84.5 (80 wins)

Angels Offseason Moves

The story of the Angels’ offseason was that they lost the most exciting player in baseball to the other team in Los Angeles.

Additions

Departures

The Ohtani sweepstakes ended as expected, with the two-way superstar signing a significant deal to leave the only franchise he had known since 2018.

It made the decision for the Angels not to trade him at last year’s deadline particularly perplexing.

Los Angeles then made some additions to its bullpen, which included bringing back Moore for his second stint with the team.

Angels 2024 Betting Prediction

Prediction: Angels to record more wins than the Royals (+125)

This is a numbers play, as the Angels and Royals have struggled to record many wins in recent years. 

Kansas City is coming off a 56-win campaign, 17 victories behind Los Angeles. The Royals haven’t finished with more wins than the Angels in a season since 2016.

Yet the Royals are trading at -150 to finish with more wins than the Angels this year after an active offseason, where they signed veterans and paid their superstar player. Meanwhile, Los Angeles let Ohtani walk for nothing.

Public perception might have caused too much of a shift in how these teams stack up in the AL.

PECOTA projects the Angels to record nearly three more wins than the Royals, while FanGraphs gives Los Angeles a two-game advantage.

Either way, taking the team with plus-money odds is the better bet in this head-to-head market.

2024 MLB Team Previews & Predictions