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  • Todd Zola, FantasyOct 4, 2024, 08:38 AM ET

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    • Writing on fantasy baseball game theory and player analysis since 1997
    • Winner of the 2013 Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Best Baseball Article

The 2024 MLB division series round is here, with four best-of-five showdowns ready to get going. In each series, Games 1, 2 and 5 (if necessary) will take place at the home stadium of the division winners that earned a bye into this round of the playoffs.

Check back every day to see the latest odds for each game as well as a few betting tips on some of the prop bets available to be made on each contest.

For more on the MLB playoffs, check out each team’s odds to win the World Series here.

All odds accurate as of publish time. Series odds reflect the lines as of the start of Game 1. For more, go to ESPN BET.

Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians

  • Series line: Tigers (+105), Guardians (-125)

  • Series result: Tigers sweep (+600), Tigers in 4 (+400), Tigers in 5 (+400)

  • Series result: Guardians sweep (+550), Guardians in 4 (+325), Guardians in 5 (+450)

Zola’s series pick: Playoff baseball is intriguing since runs are harder to come by, but the successful teams usually hit more homers. The Guardians’ offense is ideal for this scenario, and they manage their pitching as well as any team in the postseason. That said, they will face Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal in Game 2, so predicting a sweep is aggressive. So is anticipating the Guardians to sweep both games in Motown, but that’s where I am going, avoiding betting simply on the Guardians to defeat the Tigers and calling it in four games.

Game 1: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1:08 p.m. ET (TBS)

  • Game 1 line: Tigers +1.5 (-175), Guardians -1.5 (+145)

  • Game 1 money line: Tigers +130, Guardians -155

  • Game 1 O/U: 7.5 runs, Over (+110)/Under (-130)

Game 2: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Monday, Oct. 7, 4:08 p.m. ET (TBS)

Game 3: Comerica Park, Detroit, Wednesday, Oct. 9, TBD, (TBS)

*Game 4: Comerica Park, Detroit, Thursday, Oct. 10, TBD, (TBS)

*Game 5: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Saturday, Oct. 12, TBD, (TBS)

New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies

  • Series line: Mets (+150), Phillies (-180)

  • Series result: Mets sweep (+900), Mets in 4 (+500), Mets in 5 (+550)

  • Series result: Phillies sweep (+425), Phillies in 4 (+300), Phillies in 5 (+280)

Zola’s series pick: The Phillies are one of the few teams with three solid starting pitchers, although their bullpen is suspect. The Phillies are favored over the Mets, and they are my choice to advance. The safe play is just picking the Phillies to win the series. I’m going to be more adventurous, however, and I will back the Phillies to win in four.

Game 1: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 4:08 p.m. ET (FOX)

  • Game 1 line: Mets +1.5 (-145), Phillies -1.5 (+120)

  • Game 1 money line: Mets +155, Phillies -185

  • Game 1 O/U: 7.5 runs, Over (+110)/Under (-130)

Game 2: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Sunday, Oct. 6, 4:08 p.m. ET (FS1)

Game 3: Citi Field, New York, Tuesday, Oct. 8, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

*Game 4: Citi Field, New York, Wednesday, Oct. 9, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

*Game 5: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Friday, Oct. 11, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees

  • Series line: Royals (+170), Yankees (-210)

  • Series result: Royals sweep (+1300), Royals in 4 (+600), Royals in 5 (+500)

  • Series result: Yankees sweep (+360), Yankees in 4 (+250), Yankees in 5 (+320)

Zola’s series pick: Of the four divisional series, this is the toughest for me to handicap. The odds disagree as they have the Yankees as the heaviest favorites in this round. My issue is that the Yankees’ pitching, on paper, should be better than the Royals’, but there are a lot of question marks in the New York rotation while the Royals are healthy and in a groove. Yankees bats should be better than their counterparts, but they are fueled by homers and the Royals staff yielded the fewest long balls in MLB. For the second straight round, the Royals are my upset special. I’m taking them to win the series, but I am also hedging a bit by calling the series to go five games (+170).

Game 1: Yankee Stadium, New York, Saturday, Oct. 5, 6:38 p.m. ET (TBS)

  • Game 1 line: Royals +1.5 (-130), Yankees -1.5 (+110)

  • Game 1 money line: Royals +170, Yankees -205

  • Game 1 O/U: 7.5 runs, Over (-120)/Under (Even)

Game 2: Yankee Stadium, New York, Monday, Oct. 7, 7:38 p.m. ET (TBS)

Game 3: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Wednesday, Oct. 9, TBD, (TBS)

*Game 4: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Thursday, Oct. 10, TBD, (TBS)

*Game 5: Yankee Stadium, New York, Saturday, Oct. 12, TBD, (TBS)

San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Series line: Padres (+115), Dodgers (-135)

  • Series result: Padres sweep (+750), Padres in 4 (+425), Padres in 5 (+450)

  • Series result: Dodgers sweep (+500), Dodgers in 4 (+340), Dodgers in 5 (+320)

Zola’s series pick: The Dodgers and Padres opened the season in South Korea, and now they meet to decide who represents SoCal in the NLCS. The Dodgers finished five games ahead of the Padres in the NL West and are slight favorites. However, the Padres’ starting pitching is in much better shape, plus the San Diego bullpen is solid. Since the Padres are getting plus odds as the underdog, I’m taking the Padres to win the series while also picking them to defeat the Dodgers in four games.

Game 1: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Saturday, Oct. 5, 8:38 p.m. ET (FS1)

  • Game 1 line: Padres +1.5 (-190), Dodgers -1.5 (+160)

  • Game 1 money line: Padres +115, Dodgers -135

  • Game 1 O/U: 7.5 runs, Over (-115)/Under (-105)

Game 2: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Sunday, Oct. 6, 8:03 p.m. ET (FS1)

Game 3: Petco Park, San Diego, Tuesday, Oct. 8, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

*Game 4: Petco Park, San Diego, Wednesday, Oct. 9, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

*Game 5: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 11, TBD, (FOX/FS1)

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

  • Associated Press

Oct 5, 2025, 08:37 PM ET

CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.

Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.

The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.

Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

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October 6, 2025

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

  • ESPN News Services

Oct 5, 2025, 01:03 AM ET

Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he had been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties — seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, as officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

“I have no idea,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with its style of play. “I’m not worried about it. Training camp is over. We had some good games … and no one was complaining about ice time by the end of it, so it’s over.”

Florida had 17 power-play chances in the game, by the NHL’s count.

“It got silly. It got stupid by the end of it,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It wasn’t really hockey out there.”

The parade to the penalty boxes started about two minutes into the game when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin — who was among six players the Lightning called up for the game — went after Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. Sabourin got a major penalty after playing 19 seconds.

“It made you think there might be something coming,” Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen said, when asked what he thought when he saw the Lightning called up players for the game.

What would have been the eighth Florida goal of the night, midway through the third period, was taken away 15 minutes after Jesper Boqvist scored. Off-ice officials realized that Mikkola couldn’t have had an assist on the play — since he had been ejected earlier in the period.

The teams skated with the scoreboard saying Florida led 8-0 for about five minutes of actual game time before officials informed both teams that the goal had been taken away and Mikkola had to leave the game.

The Lightning took nine penalties and had no shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday’s game came two nights after the teams combined for 49 penalties and 186 minutes in another preseason contest, one the Lightning won 5-2.

Tampa Bay went to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020 through 2022, winning two titles in that span. Florida has been to each of the past three Stanley Cup Finals and has won the past two Cups. And there has long been a heated rivalry between the franchises.

“I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A, not be surprised and B, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

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October 6, 2025

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

  • Associated Press

Oct 5, 2025, 01:49 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.

Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.

The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.

Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.

Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.

The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.

Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.

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