The 2020 MLB season has officially ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning their seventh World Series and their first since 1988 in a 4-2 series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Dodgers won Game 6 by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
The season ended in controversy with Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner leaving in the middle of the game after testing positive for the coronavirus, but the MLB was able to finish its shortened season and was able to crown a World Series champion in 2020.
This baseball year was about as strange as it gets with the regular season being shortened to 60 games per team because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it didn’t even get started till July 23. A few teams needed to shut down operations and make up games with several doubleheaders, and the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 2020.
So what about 2021?
The World Series ended roughly at the same time it always does, so the offseason should not be a whole lot different than it would in a normal year.
As we look toward the offseason for the Toronto Blue Jays, they have a number of questions heading into the 2021 MLB season. On Sunday, Nov. 1, MLB free agency will officially begin, and players are allowed to negotiate and sign with any team in the league, so the offseason will get going fairly quickly heading into spring training, which gets started on Feb. 27, 2021.
Toronto had a fairly decent 2020 season with a 32-28 regular season record that included the Blue Jays sneaking into the expanded playoffs. The Blue Jays should have a better feel for where they are as an organization, and they have a solid core of young, controllable talent that should give Toronto plenty of options to improve the roster as it looks for another run at the playoffs.
The Blue Jays should be fairly active depending on how the free agency and trade markets shake out throughout the offseason.
All dates are subject to change, but the MLB is moving forward as if a normal, 162-game schedule will be played next year. While some leagues are still trying to plan out how their next season will go, the MLB announced the start of the 2021 season earlier this summer, which states all 30 teams will get started on April 1.
Toronto is currently scheduled to start its season on the road against the New York Yankees.
Where do the Blue Jays stack up with the rest of baseball as we look ahead to who will be the champion at this time next year? A lot will happen from now till the time the season actually gets started including trades and free agency, but here’s an early look at the 2021 World Series odds and where Toronto falls three days before the free agency market opens.
2021 World Series Odds
According to oddsmakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorites to repeat as World Series champions in the 2021 season. The Blue Jays are tied for 17th in the league along with the Los Angeles Angles at +4000 odds. That puts Toronto third in the American League East behind the New York Yankees (+525) and Tampa Bay (+1200). However, the Blue Jays are ahead of the Boston Red Sox (+5000) and Baltimore Orioles (+7000).
Among teams in the American League, Toronto is tied for eighth.
All odds are via a popular United States sportsbook.
- Los Angeles Dodgers +480
- New York Yankees +525
- Atlanta Braves +1000
- Tampa Bay Rays +1200
- San Diego Padres +1300
- Chicago White Sox/Minnesota Twins +1500
- Houston Astros/Oakland Athletics +1800
- Cleveland Indians +2200
- Chicago Cubs/Cincinnati Reds +2500
- Philadelphia Phillies +3000
- New York Mets/St. Louis Cardinals +3300
- Washington Nationals +3500
- Los Angeles Angels/Toronto Blue Jays +4000
- Milwaukee Brewers +4500
- Boston Red Sox/Miami Marlins +5000
- Colorado Rockies +6600
- Arizona Diamondbacks/Baltimore Orioles/San Francisco Giants +7000
- Seattle Mariners/Texas Rangers +8000
- Detroit Tigers/Kansas City Royals/Pittsburgh Pirates +10000