MLB Futures Bets 2025

By: Bryce Hunt

Folks, it’s about that time again. As we get closer to Opening Day, we are set to release our futures bets for the 2025 MLB season.

Our full list of plays will be released later this month on YouTube, but we are here to release a handful of official plays early to our newsletter subscribers.

As always, more plays could still be added and pending injury and roster transactions, plays could be rescinded. This is what we have so far:

Jacob DeGrom under 184.5 strikeouts x3 units

This line is moving quickly, which is why we released this early on this week’s episode for The Janitor’s Closet Podcast.

Jacob DeGrom has failed to throw more than 92 innings since 2019 due to injury. While he flashed his vintage arsenal when he returned last season, the Rangers have already announced this spring that they will limit his workload and give him rest to protect his arm.

Two of the most respected projection databases, ATC and The BAT, have him failing to reach 145 strikeouts. While we don’t use these projections to make our futures bets, it’s always nice to be on the same side as some of the brighter minds in the game.

Blake Snell under 199.5 strikeouts x5 units

Blake Snell is continuing his NL West tour, joining the powerhouse Dodgers this season. It would be easy to bank on his injury history when fading his strikeout total this year, but we want to highlight a few other areas.

Snell has only reached 200 k’s twice in his nine-year career, and while he is one of the game’s best strikeout arms, we have many reasons to believe he won’t reach that number for a third time.

The Dodgers have admitted to turning to a six-man rotation when Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound in May. This could lead to 3-5+ fewer starts for Snell this season, which could mean he could lose 20-40 strikeouts as a result.

Snell has also been a victim of his annual inning totals being cut by 4-5 inning starts. He has only gone seven innings five times over the past two seasons.

Another result of his swap from the Giants to the Dodgers will be his new catcher, Will Smith, who had -10 framing runs saved behind the plate last season. This is a dramatic change from Patrick Bailey, who led the league with 16 framing runs saved. Snell’s stuff is good enough to play with any catcher, I just wanted to make a note of this.

The last point I’ll make is that nobody has seen Snell more than the NL West, the Giants and Padres should know his stuff as well as anyone. The “Blake Snell Blueprint” will always overpower hitters, but I’d like to think there has been a few scouting reports built on him over the years.

Ronald Acuña Jr. Comeback Player of the Year x2 units

We are a year removed from Acuña’s historic MVP campaign.

This award has been given to a position player in four of the last six seasons and Acuña is the best eligible player in this market.

His biggest competition should be Sandy Alcantara and Spencer Strider. We may look at a hedge opportunity with Alcantara, but with his uncertainty on a poor roster that may look to offload him at the deadline, we are taking a shot on Acuña here.

Even if his numbers are down across the board, a 15/15 or 20/20 season should accumulate the WAR necessary for him to get the nod.

Chicago White Sox over 52.5 wins x 3 units

Yes, I understand the White Sox only had 41 wins last season, but we are back taking the win total for the lowest-ranked team for a second straight year.

We are looking to replicate the success we found tailing the A’s last year and hoping Chicago has what it takes to not lose more than 109 games.

At their core, this roster isn’t great, but they still do have some players with Andrew Vaughn, Mike Tauchman, Miguel Vargas and Luis Robert Jr.

Their rotation surprisingly has some young talent that looks good, and they may fill their lineup with some youth to provide a spark while getting big league experience.

We aren’t asking them for much here, I think the Chi Sox will be improved and be closer to the 60-win mark in 2025.

That is all we have for now. Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you folks for the full play list on YouTube.