By Daniel Behringer
LVSportsBiz.com
The perfect ingredients for Memorial Day are blue skies, a bevy of American flags, hot dogs sizzling on the grill — and a tempting underdog play in Major League baseball.
And what better ‘dog play on Memorial Day than the lowly Miami Marlins, a relishing +250 vs. the Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals. They would have to win, of course — but win they did, scoring once in the eighth, once in the ninth to win, 3-2.
You do the math on a black-chip bettor’s ROI.
There was more Major League baseball that day, of course, and Triple A baseball that night with the Las Vegas Aviators, typically -130 or -140 in this spot, scoring four times in the top of the ninth to come from behind and beat the Reno Aces, 9-7. Presuming a total of 12.5-13.5, that ninth-inning rally also rewarded over bettors.
But wait, there’s more! Betting activity that is. On Monday evening the Boston Bruins, at -165, opened the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues. The Bruins prevailed, 4-2, which sent the total over 5.5.
On Tuesday, the total on the Aviators had inexplicably dropped to 10.5. That number was never seriously in doubt, however, as the Aviators pounded out another 12-8 victory over the Aces at Greater Nevada Field in Reno.
We were out and about on Wednesday, and we were listening to the crowd in the race and sports book. Just listening from near the book can be entertaining. During football season, arguably peak time for the books, dramatic crescendos from fans on both sides of a game frequently suggest big plays or game-turning events.
On this particularly Wednesday, we heard sporadic cries and shrieks from the book, and it wasn’t Major League baseball. Or the Las Vegas Aviators. Or anything else.
It was NHL fans and most of the them seemed to be either Blues fans or Blues bettors — or both. And it was Blues fans and bettors who were able to cheer the loudest and the longest when they prevailed, 3-2 in overtime, to even the series at one game each.
We were out and about again on Thursday, but it wasn’t Major League baseball or the Aviators.
It was Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and like a lot of people, we had a vested interest. Based on some chatter we heard and our own semireliable gut instinct, we and quite a few others played the Toronto Raptors vs. the Golden State Warriors at pick, -115, in the first quarter, and -0.5 at -120 in the first half. We happened to get lucky on both bets as Raptors jumped out to solid first-quarter and first-half leads. For that matter, bettors who played the Raptors at -1.5 for the game profited as well as the home team rolled to a 118-109 win, with the total easily eclipsing 212.5.
Astute readers of these post will undoubtedly remember what we’ve written in the past about the propensity of home teams and overs in Game 1 of any major series.
Friday saw a game local interest when the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, laying 2.5 points on the road vs. the Phoenix Mercury, lost, 86-84. The total slipped over 165.
By Saturday, the board at the book was crowded with more baseball action, but Game 3 the Stanley Cup Final was arguably the biggest draw. The Blues, returning home, were laying -120, but it was the Bruins at even money at most square books, who responded with a 7-2 victory, easily sending the total over 5.
Baseball did merit some attention on Saturday with the Red Sox-Yankees game garnering a national Fox TV audience as the Yankees, -131, downed their archival, 5-3. And the Sacramento River Cats, apparently home ‘dogs, beat the Las Vegas Aviators, 7-5, at Raley Field in Sacramento.
But the biggest story and betting payoff may have been in boxing where little-known Andy Ruiz Jr. pummeled British champion Anthony Joshua to win Joshua’s shares of the heavyweight title by TKO. The fight and Ruiz’s win at Madison Square Garden was compared to Buster Douglas’ 1990 upset of Mike Tyson to claim the heavyweight crown. The Associated Press reported that Ruiz walked into the ring with a waistline that called for a supersized championship belt, but that Ruiz warned Joshua, “Don’t underestimate this little fat boy.”
According to Odds Shark, Joshua was -3500 with Ruiz +1200. William Hill had Ruiz at +900 but +2000 to win by KO.
And it was nothing like a major upset in the boxing world, but Round 2 — also known as Game 2 — of the Warriors at the Raptors played out Sunday with the Raptors -2 and the total inching up to 213.5.
We were out and about and had a small investment on the Warriors to square the series. We weren’t the only ones. A bettor at the next window rushed up asked for “the Warriors and the over.” Apparently, the ticket writers knew the numbers.
The Warriors responded with a 109-104 win, but over players came up just short on the total of 213.5.
The Las Vegas Aces were also back in action on Sunday. Laying five points at home to the Connecticut Sun, the Aces scored a grand total of 13 points in the fourth quarter to lose outright, 80-74.
Also on Sunday the Las Vegas Aviators, laying -145 with a total of 11, again beat the Sacramento River Cats, 7-5.
What’s next?
— Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final goes Monday with the both the Blues and the Bruins at -110, and the total at 5.5.
— Game 3 of the NBA Finals goes Wednesday. It’s the Warriors -5.5 with the total at 213.
— The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup gets underway Friday. The USA is 3/1. If you lean toward long shots, both Jamaica and Thailand are 1000/1.
— And the Belmont Stakes goes Saturday with War of Will, likely the only horse to race all three legs of the Triple Crown, listed as 2/1.