Nevada Sports Books Getting Nervous About Baseball
August 26, 2013 in Gambling News
The current baseball season is not turning out exactly as the Las Vegas handicappers had predicted. They got a lot of it right and a good bit wrong. Teams that looked good in the preseason just didn’t pan out. Some teams that got off to slow starts caught fire after the All-Star break.
All these unexpected ups and downs are starting to make the powers that be at the big sportsbooks both in the US and offshore a little nervous about who might actually make it to the World Series this year.
Obviously, the most serious threat to the handicappers peace of mind are the Los Angeles Dodgers who currently hold a 9.5 game lead over their closest competitor in the National League West, the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers opened back in preseason with +1000 odds to win the World Series. By the end of June, those odds had climbed all the way up to +4000 based on the team’s dismal performances up to that point.
Guess what, the Dodgers got on a roll behind the return of Hanley Ramirez and the upstart rookie sensation Yasil Puig and now their current odds are down to +600 to take the Fall Classic this year.
Sports Books in Nevada always take extra action on California baseball teams and the Dodger’s astounding turnaround has forced many books to juice their World Series odds in order to cushion the blow of a potential Dodgers World Series win.
“They’re the hottest team in baseball and their only issue might be they’re hot at the wrong time of the year because there’s no way they can sustain that level of play,” an oddsmaker for CarbonSports.ag named Michael Stewart told the press. Of course, he could be wrong.
The Cleveland Indians are another team that has the big books sweating it out this season. Lots of wiseguys jumped on the Indians when it came to season win totals but no one seriously considered them to be World Series contenders… well, guess what they are right up there in the chase. Cleveland opened at +10,000 to win the Fall Classic then found themselves at +3,000 at the end of June and currently Cleveland is listed at +2,500 to take the World Series.
The other team that oddsmakers are keeping a wary eye on is the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore started the season at +4,000. By the end of June they had moved to +1,400 and now the Orioles are at +1,200. Watch out Las Vegas!