By Daniel Behringer
LVSportsBiz.com
Alonso, the New York Mets’ rookie first baseman and former Las Vegas 51s slugger who won the last baseball game ever played at Cashman Field with a walk-off home run, eventually won the long ball shootout, out slugging Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 23-22. Guerrero was around +600 on Monday before the Derby got underway.
Of course, that set the stage for the All-Star Game itself. Along with roughly 7 million other Americans, we tuned in to watch part of the game on Tuesday in which the American League at +100 beat the National League, 4-3. We had a slight lean on “under” the total of 8.5 but didn’t play it. Of course, like virtually every other game, there was an abundance of in-game wagers. The display of possible wagers on one mobile app resembled something like a running update on an IPO from the New York Stock Exchange.
You might think that with Major League baseball on the All-Star break, the day after the game would be devoid of betting action. But you would be wrong.
At the very least on Wednesday, there was the African Cup of Nations soccer, U.S. Open Cup soccer, and a quarterfinals men’s doubles Wimbledon match and NBA Summer League games.
And then there was the WNBA. In an early morning tip-off, the Las Vegas Aces went off as 6-point road favorites against the Indiana Fever. Had we been up a little earlier for the morning start of the game, we would have been tempted to again fade the Aces, who were on the second game of a four-game road trip.
The Aces held a 3-point lead at half-time before prevailing, 74-71, with the combined points easily coming in under the total of 161. The Aces were also -3 favorites for the second half but played the Fever even, 36-36, for the final two quarters.
While the win gave the Aces the best record in the WNBA at the time, at that point, they had only covered the point spread only once in their last five games.
Major League baseball made a limited return on Thursday with one game, the Houston Astros at the Texas Rangers, on the schedule. The two women’s semifinal Wimbledon matches were also on the board.
A well-known betting website suggested four ways to play the professional baseball game — a run scored in the first inning, Texas the first to score, under 6.5 runs on the five-inning line but Houston to win the game. Not bad advice. All the suggested wagers except for Houston to win the game would have paid.
By Friday, you could argue the Wimbledon men’s semifinals match pitting Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal was the marquee event. Nadal was a -140 favorite with Federer +120 on the buyback. But it was underdog Federer who prevailed 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
A full slate of baseball was also on the board for Friday. At one local shop, the ever-popular and highly public New York Yankees rose to as high as -330 for their game against the Toronto Blue Jays. We were sorely tempted by the +260 on the buyback for the lowly Blue Jays on either the five-inning line or the game but not tempted enough fork over hard-earned cash.
Probably a good thing. The Yankees won, 4-0.
In case you were starved for football, there was action — of sorts — on Saturday. Two Arena Football League games were on the board along with two Canadian Football League games. Other CFL games were played on Thursday and Friday.
Hey, it was football.
We were curious to see how the Aces would perform on the road Saturday vs. the Washington Mystics. Getting 2.5 points, the Aces recovered after losing the first quarter, 28-16, to win the next three quarters. The result was an 85-81 outright win for the Aces with the total sliding “over” 163.
But the Wimbledon Women’s Singles Final was arguably the marquee event. We had a decided lean to toward the younger Simona Halep, who was getting anywhere from +152 to +160 against Serena Williams. And although we didn’t play it, Halep won relatively easily, 6-2, 6-2, in a mere 56 minutes.
On the Sunday, the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final pitted Novak Djokovic as a -190 favorite against Roger Federer as a +150 underdog. Djokovic won 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) . But it took considerably longer than the Women’s Final — four hours and 55 minutes, to be precise.
On Sunday evening, the rubber game of the Los Angeles Dodgers-Boston Red Sox World Series rematch garnered prime time on ESPN. Both sides went off at -105 with the total at 9 though more money was coming in on the Dodgers, according to Vegas Insider. It took 12 innings and five hours and 40 minutes for Dodgers bettors to claim their winning tickets and the total to go “over.”
What’s next?
— The NBA Summer League finals is Monday night with the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies vs. the No. 3 Minnesota Timberwolves.
— The Aces conclude their road swing with a game Friday vs. the Seattle Storm.
— The Keith Thurman vs. Manny Pacquiao WBA Welterweight fight goes July 20. You can still find Pacquiao at -125 with Thurman +105 at some shops, but Station Casinos has Pacquiao at -140 and Thurman at +120.
— If you’re truly salivating for football, there are two college games on the football schedule for Aug. 24. And the Packers at the Bears kick off the NFL season on Sept. 5 with the Bears 4-point favorites over their long-time division rival.
*