By Dan Behringer of LVSportsBiz.com
Baseball is bor-ing.
Baseball is too slow.
Baseball takes for-ever.
All true.
Baseball is all of the above because baseball is a throwback to simpler times in America when workers escaped to the sweet green grass and the red dirt and the blue sky on weekends after trudging to work in gloomy factories all week.
And clearly, baseball is no match for the razzle-dazzle quickness of the NBA or the controlled (or is it contrived?) violence of the NHL, both of which draw a younger and more diverse fan base.
But for bettors, Major League Baseball has one allure. It’s more predictable than hockey and pro basketball. True, a cellar dweller can knock off a division leader on any given night. But generally speaking, the more adept pitchers, the more powerful hitters and the more well-balanced teams prevail. Oddsmakers know this, and betting prices are adjusted accordingly.
But teams can get hot and go on winning streaks. Long winning streaks. Winning streaks that allow bettors to queue up at the window, collect a ticket and cash a ticket. And then do it again.
Again.
And again.
And even roll that ticket over and let it ride.
Again.
And again.
Take for example, the Oakland Athletics, in simpler times known the Philadelphia Athletics and later the Kansas City Athletics before moving to Oakland in 1968. Way back on April 7, the Oakland A’s beat the reigning World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3. After losing six straight to start the season, it was their first win of the still-green baseball campaign.
Then something happened. After a loss the next day, the A’s won again. And they won the next game. And the game after that.
And a winning streak was hatched. Bettors could go to the window every day, fork over a few bills and maybe some spare change and come back a few hours later and cash a ticket. The betting prices were never unreasonable. The A’s are not the star-populated New York Yankees, who oddly enough started the season poorly, nor the payroll-rich Dodgers.
If you were betting the Oakland A’s, you could find betting prices of -130, -150 and even -120 and -110 or so for the double-header against the Minnesota Twins on April 20 (the A’s won both games, 7-0 and 1-0). They had to rally in extra winnings to beat the Twins again, 13-12, the following day, but they did so at a remarkably cheap price of -110 for that game.
All this time, savvy bettors were riding the streak, collecting tickets and cashing tickets with bor-ing monotony.
Talk about Moneyball.
And whether you like baseball or fall asleep at the mere mention of extra innings, baseball is ripe for streaks, both the winning and losing variety. (As of Sunday, the offensively challenged Detroit Tigers had lost nine of the last 10.)
Of course, all streaks must end. And the A’s winning streak finally ended at 13 on Sunday afternoon before 8,107 fans at Camden Yards when they lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 8-1. But along the way, A’s bettors made frequent appearances at the counter to cash their winning tickets. Savvy bettors undoubtedly thank them for their run.
Elsewhere:
— On the subject of streaks, the Vegas Golden Knights are on one of their own. The Las Vegas team, known for its West Division-leading status and gold-toned helmets among other things, beat the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, 5-1, for a franchise-record ninth straight win. Chandler Stephenson scored two goals in the first period, and Robin Lehner stopped 23 shots in the victory.
The VGK has already clinched their NHL playoff appearance for a fourth straight season.
Next up: The Golden Knights host division rival Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena. A betting line will be available at midweek.
— Kamaru Usman retained his welterweight title by knocking out Jorge Masviadal at 1:02 of Round 2 in the main event UFC 261. The fight played out before a capacity crowd at at VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The win was no surprise to bettors. Usman was a -400 favorite. Under 4.5 paid around +160.
Favorites were 8-4-1 for the event, according to Vegas Insider.
On Saturday, Dominick Reyes (12-2-0) faces Jiri Prochazka (27-3-1) in the light heavyweight main event of UFC Fight Night at the Apex facility in southwest Las Vegas. Covers.com reports that Prochazka is a -138 favorite; Reyes is +110.
— Circle May 6 on your calendar. That’s the date the Las Vegas Aviators will finally open their Triple A season against the Sacramento River Cats.
No betting line as of yet, obviously, but we’ll predict the the Aviators will be mid-range chalk with a total around 14 before the first pitch is tossed at 7:05 p.m at the Las Vegas Ballpark.