2022 MLB Betting: Byron Buxton, Logan Gilbert, Steven Kwan Making Big Jumps in Futures Odds

The first month of the Major League Baseball season is almost complete, so it’s a good time to check out the early developments in the big awards races — Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. All preseason odds via DraftKings and all odds as of today via DraftKings except where noted.

AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (+400 now, +500 Opening Day): Guerrero is so good — and the Blue Jays so good — that he might suffer come voting time. But Guerrero has already produced one of the iconic moments of this season: His three-homer game against the Yankees after he got his hand stepped on at first base.

Byron Buxton (+950 now, +2500 Opening Day): Sometimes, the MVP is as easy to figure out as identifying the player having a long-awaited career year on a playoff team that would be hard-pressed to contend without him. Buxton reached the majors at 21 in 2015 and has collected 500 plate appearances just once, but he’s off to a monster start (his OPS is a video game-like 1.231) for the Twins, who are atop the hot mess that is the AL Central.

Ty France (+5000 now, n/a Opening Day): The Mariners look like they’re for real and France entered Wednesday among the top three in the AL’s triple crown categories.

NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP

Juan Soto (+400 now, +280 Opening Day): Can someone be the best player in his league but not an MVP candidate? Advanced metrics have mostly rendered counting stats irrelevant, but Soto’s hitting .250 with three homers and three RBIs for the Nationals, who seem destined to lose 100 games and finish last in the NL East.

Nolan Arenado (+1600 now, +2500 Opening Day): The Cardinals are off to a faster than expected start and Arenado, who has placed in the top 10 of the NL MVP balloting five times, is hitting a robust .344 with five homers and 14 RBIs. 

C.J. Cron (+10,000 now at MGM, n/a Opening Day): The Rockies probably aren’t going to maintain their fast start, but Cron’s absurd power even in an era of an apparently deadened baseball — he leads the NL with six homers and 17 RBIs — makes him an intriguing longshot MVP candidate.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CY YOUNG

Justin Verlander (+700 now, +1600 Opening Day): Talk about picking up where you left off: Verlander missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and then became the first pitcher this season to throw eight innings in a start. With the Mariners and Angels closing the gap on the Astros in the AL West, a vintage Verlander could be the difference between Houston advancing to the playoffs and heading home.

Kevin Gausman (+1200 now, +1600 Opening Day): Last season wasn’t a fluke for Gausman, who has a 2.19 ERA with 31 strikeouts and no walks in his first four starts while pitching for the clear-cut AL favorite.

Logan Gilbert (+2500 now, n/a Opening Day): Gilbert gave up a homer to the second batter he faced this season — and hasn’t allowed a run since as he’s lowered his ERA to a Jacob deGrom-esque 0.40. (Fun fact: Gilbert and deGrom each went to Stetson) Probably not sustainable, but this probably isn’t the last time he’ll be a Cy Young contender.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CY YOUNG

Max Scherzer (+550 now, +600 Opening Day): All Scherzer’s done in his first month with the Mets is go 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA and completely reshape the image of a perpetually adrift franchise.

Corbin Burnes (+600 now, +700 Opening Day): Like Gausman, Burnes is proving his ace emergence last year was for real. He’s allowed just two runs while fashioning a 29/3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last three starts.

Carlos Rodon (+600 now, +1800 Opening Day): Health and workload are always going to be a concern for Rodon, but a 1.17 ERA, an 0.83 WHIP and an NL-leading 38 strikeouts in four starts underline his arrival as an ace.

AMERICAN LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Bobby Witt Jr. (+350 now, +310 Opening Day): Baseball is hard, volume the infinite: Witt, the consensus top prospect in the game, has no homers and is hitting .203 with a .535 OPS entering today. He’ll be fine, but as we noted, the one-shot nature of the Rookie of the Year award can make for famously quirky races. Speaking of which…

Steven Kwan (+700 now, +6500 Opening Day): A good way to become a surprise Rookie of the Year candidate: Go your first 116 pitches without swinging and missing.

Jeremy Pena (+750 now, +1200 Opening Day): No Carlos Correa? No problem for the Astros. Pena’s stepped in and has a 140 OPS in 16 games.

NATIONAL LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Seiya Suzuki (-130 now, +380 Opening Day): With a 1.097 OPS and an NL-best .463 on-base percentage, this race might already be over as long as Suzuki stays healthy.

Hunter Greene (+700 now, +1000 Opening Day): There are few more electric pitchers in the game than Greene, who threw 39 fastballs clocked at 100 mph or faster against the Dodgers on Apr. 16. But no non-Shohei Ohtani starting pitcher has won the Rookie of the Year since Michael Fulmer in 2016 and Hunter, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019, is a likely candidate to be shut down early by the Reds, who are playing for the no. 1 draft pick.

Seth Beer (+2000 now, +3000 Opening Day): Anyone named Beer who hits a walk-off Opening Night homer — on the final hours of National Beer Day —deserves some consideration.