3 Best MLB Futures Bets Before Opening Day

While we've got one series in the books, the MLB season well and truly kicks off with a traditional Opening Day on Thursday, March 27th.

With the season right around the corner, which futures bets should interest you via the MLB betting odds at FanDuel Sportsbook?

Here are three of my favorite preseason MLB futures for 2025.

MLB Futures to Place Before Opening Day

Kansas City Royals Under 82.5 Wins (-102)

A year ago, the Kansas City Royals were one of baseball's surprise teams, winning 86 games -- exactly 30 more than they won in 2023 -- en route to making the postseason. But a lot of things went their way in 2024, and I think the Royals are destined to go under their win total this coming season.

Pitching was the main driver of last year's success. In fact, Kansas City scored just 59 more runs in 2024 than they did in 2023. Not only did KC get big-time seasons out of guys like Seth Lugo (5.4 bWAR) and Cole Ragans (5.0 bWAR), they barely had to deal with injuries to their starting rotation. They got 908 innings from their starters, the second-highest mark in baseball, and a whopping 868 1/3 of those frames came from their five most used pitchers -- meaning KC mostly trotted out the same rotation every week. Four of their five starters -- Michael Wacha and Brady Singer in addition to Lugo and Ragans -- threw at least 166 innings.

In today's game, where pitcher injuries are an epidemic, the Royals' 2024 season is an outlier, and when looking for ways that this coming season could differ for them from 2024, the health of the starting rotation is an obvious place to start. And it probably won't help that three of their five 2025 rotation members are getting old -- Lugo (age-35 season), Wacha (34) and Michael Lorenzen (33)

But even if health is on their side again this campaign, I'm not sure the rotation can perform as well as they did a year ago. Ragans is an ace, so no worries there. But Lugo's 3.94 SIERA -- while dang good -- was well off his 3.00 ERA, and he struck out just 21.7% of hitters, benefitting from a .277 BABIP and career-best 7.4% home-run-to-fly-ball rate.

They also traded away the aforementioned Singer for hitter Jonathan India and are promoting Kris Bubic from the 'pen to the rotation to take Singer's spot. Bubic has started before, and it didn't go well, with the lefty amassing a 4.75 SIERA across 47 starts (57 appearances) over 2021 and 2022. Bubic was excellent in 30 1/3 MLB innings as a reliever last year (2.09 SIERA), but his spring hasn't gone all that well (6.48 ERA).

All in all, I think the Royals will have a hard time repeating the pitching success they displayed in 2024, and outside of the Chicago White Sox, the AL Central should be very competitive -- with the Detroit Tigers (83.5), Minnesota Twins (83.5) and Cleveland Guardians (82.5) all holding preseason win totals that put them as an above-.500 team. I'm backing KC to win no more than 82 games. FanGraphs' projections fall in line as they have the Royals winning 81 games.

Yordan Alvarez to Win AL MVP (+1600)

Yordan Alvarez is one of the elite hitters in the game, and while his bat carries all of his value, I think he's an intriguing MVP bet at +1600.

Yordan rakes. He's slugged at least 30 homers in four straight seasons. Over that span, he owns a .402 wOBA, 42.2% hard-hit rate and 43.0% fly-ball rate. He's clearly one of the top bats in baseball, and he's in the heart of his prime as this will be his age-28 season.

ZiPS projections have Alvarez (171) with the second-best wRC+ in the American League, trailing only Aaron Judge (180). With Juan Soto in the NL, Judge and Alvarez are in a tier of their own in the AL as ZiPS has no other hitters forecasted for a wRC+ above 151.

In all, ZiPS has Alvarez pegged for a .406 wOBA, 36 dingers, 106 RBIs and 93 runs scored. If he puts up those numbers and the Houston Astros -- holders of a win total of 86.5 -- remain competitive, Yordan has a good chance to be in the MVP mix.

He may also have some narratives working in his favor. Judge has won two of the past three AL MVPs, so voters might have a little Judge fatigue. That's not fair to Judge, but we see it play out across different sports pretty often. Also, Houston lost Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman this offseason. If they keep winning and Yordan has elite numbers, he might end up getting a lot of the credit.

Alvarez's lack of defensive value will work against him, especially if shortstops such as Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson end up in the mix for the award, but I think these +1600 odds are a bit too long for a masher with the elite track record that Alvarez has.

Michael King to Win NL Cy Young (+2000)

Michael King's 2024 transition to a full-time starter couldn't have gone much better, and I think that can continue this season.

King ended the 2023 season working as a starter for the New York Yankees and then was dealt to the San Diego Padres as part of a package to get Juan Soto. The Padres used King nearly exclusively as a starter (30 of his 31 appearances were starts), and he turned in a stellar season, pitching to a 3.63 SIERA over 173 2/3 innings with a 27.7% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 12.0% swinging-strike rate.

The 12.0% swinging-strike rate was actually higher than his 11.7% clip from 2023 when 40 and his 49 appearances came as a reliever. Typically, it works the other way where guys miss more bats working in short spurts out of the bullpen than they do as a starter.

Also, that innings total shouldn't be overlooked. Any questions about King's ability to handle a starter's workload were put to rest as he logged those 173 2/3 frames. His previous career-high in innings was 104 2/3, which came in 2023, and he'd never topped 63 1/3 MLB innings prior to that.

While it may be fair to have some health concerns about King coming off a season where he threw a ton more than he ever has, I'm willing to look at it the other way. This guy just keeps delivering regardless of what's asked of him.

Paul Skenes (+200) is a commanding favorite in the NL Cy Young market with no one else shorter than +600. Given how electric Skenes was last year and how many headlines he'll garner if he does it again in 2025, that +200 number is probably about right. But ZiPS is expecting another fantastic season from King -- 3.46 FIP, 3.27 ERA and 26.3% K rate -- and he should be part of that next tier who will become a Cy Young threat if Skenes regresses or gets injured.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.