Arizona Diamondbacks Could Become Biggest Longshot in Recorded History to Win World Series

There have been some fairytale World Series winners in the history of Major League Baseball.

The Florida Marlins shocked the world by going from 75-to-1 preseason longshots to champions in 2003.

The Minnesota Twins were 80-to-1 underdogs to win the 1991 World Series championship and eventually claimed the title.

But the Arizona Diamondbacks have a chance to trump them all by becoming the biggest-ever longshot to win the title since preseason World Series odds started being kept in 1985.

Mood pic.twitter.com/HYqBUhi2cd

— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) October 12, 2023

I checked in with DraftKings this week, which said that Arizona was a whopping 180-to-1 longshot to win the World Series heading into the 2023 season. That is an implied probability of only 0.55 percent.

It made sense, as the Diamondbacks lost 110 games two years ago and went 74-88 last season.

But now here they are, poised for an NLCS showdown with the Philadelphia Phillies following a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. Eight more wins, and they will secure that wholly unexpected championship.

The odds remain against them.

The D-Backs currently have +475 odds to win the World Series at DraftKings, worst among the final four participants. They are +145 underdogs in their series matchup with Philadelphia and will almost certainly be the underdog against either the Rangers or Astros if they make the World Series.

But this is not an unfamiliar spot.

Arizona has been an underdog in every single game this postseason and has still come away with a 5-0 record and a sparkling run-differential of plus-19.

The D-Backs have a team OPS of .877 in the playoffs, which is second among the MLB postseason entrants. Their team ERA of 2.20 is third.

The Phillies are the -162 favorites to claim Game 1 on Monday, with the Diamondbacks entering as +136 underdogs despite ace Zac Gallen expected to take the mound.

Arizona got off to a hot start this season, but a midseason swoon had their playoff hopes teetering on the brink.

Be honest, on August 12th, did you think the #Dbacks would be where they are now? pic.twitter.com/vMzRpfv4yk

— Alex D’Agostino (@AlexDagAZ) October 12, 2023

On August 10th, they sat below .500 with only 47 games remaining and FanGraphs pegged their playoff chances at 16.8%.

On that date, DraftKings had Arizona’s odds of winning the World Series at 150-to-1.

Just a little more than two months later, and the Diamondbacks are one of four teams remaining, still alive as juggernauts like the Dodgers and Braves have been eliminated.

And how about this: one DraftKings bettor put down a $1,000 wager on the Diamondbacks to win the World Series within the first few weeks of the season.

The odds at the time were 130-to-1, meaning he or she is eight victories away from a payout of $130,000.