With spring training firmly in swing, all eyes are on Opening Day of the 2026 MLB season, which will take us on the long road across the summer and into fall with the postseason and the World Series.
At this point, there is always plenty of discussion about who the main contenders for the World Series will be, with teams like the LA Dodgers and the Seattle Mariners firmly in the equation this time around.
Yet, we wanted to take a look at what we think is the strongest division across MLB – the American League East. It is, of course, not surprising to say it has the most depth – the AL East has sent three teams to the postseason in every season of the 2020s thus far bar one.
Three AL East Teams Viewed as Bona Fide Contenders
Sportsbooks see that depth, too. Looking at DraftKings’ MLB odds, the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays are among the top six market leaders for the 2026 World Series. The trio joins the Dodgers, Mariners and Mets. The Baltimore Orioles are not completely ruled out either, considered about 10th favorites overall to win the World Series.
There should be, most certainly, a sense of continuation here. The Blue Jays made the World Series last fall, whereas the Yankees were in the Fall Classic the year before. The Red Sox, while not being ultra-competitive across the 2020s, have been improving, and they were good enough to make for an 89-win season and a postseason berth last term.
To illustrate the strength of the AL East, we came up with a rankings system based on DraftKings’ current MLB odds. The Dodgers – the clear betting favorite – got a score of 1, the second-favorite Yankees 2, Mariners 3, and so on down to the Washington Nationals at 30 (the rank outsider). We came up with the following to rank the strength of the six divisions:
1st AL East — 47
2nd NL East — 75
3rd AL West — 76
4th NL West — 83
5th NL Central — 85
6th AL Central — 99
Thus, we can see by that metric that the AL East is clearly predicted to be the strongest division overall in the MLB this season. Of course, you can argue that betting odds aren’t always the best metrics, and there could be other metrics, such as ranking based on last season’s win-loss record (the AL East still comes out on top) in the same manner as the NFL calculates its strength of schedule.
Yet, the remarkable thing is how far ahead the AL East is of the rest. The points differential (28) between the AL East and the second-ranked division, the NL East, which boasts contenders like the Mets and Braves, is bigger than the gap between 2nd and 6th (24).
Of course, none of this means much across the course of the season. Each team is in it for itself, and you can be sure that arch-rivals like the Yankees and Red Sox won’t want the other side to do well. Yet, it shows us that the depth – at least, the perceived depth – of the AL East is MLB’s best once again, and we would not be surprised to see three teams from that division back in the mix in the postseason.
