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Let's have a bit of fun. After the jump you'll find 11 betting lines, from Bovada, concerning the performance of the 2012 Arizona Diamondbacks in the regular season (so no post-season action will count). I'm bankrolling each of you with $1,500 in SnakePit Dollars [actual value 0.00000000000001 cents], which you can divide up and wager on the lines as you think fit. I'll accept entries up until Opening Day, and will revisit this (if someone reminds me!) at the end of the regular season, to see who comes out with the biggest pot of winnings.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SnakePit Casino...
A quick bit of explanation, for those unfamiliar with betting parlance. In an "over/under" bet, a sports book will set a number, and bettors can choose on which side of that number the actual result will fall. The most common such is the total points in an NFL game, but it can be run on just about any sporting statistic. If you win, you get double your money [actually, it's typically a shade less than double, the difference being the house edge, but we'll just say double for our purposes here]. If you lose... Well, I trust I need not draw you a picture, but it involves a vice and Joe Pesci, if my recollection of Casino is correct.
Entry lines should be in the form:
$300, Diamondbacks Wins, OVER
which means you are betting Arizona will win more than the specified number. However, so you don't just throw it all on one bet, you have to bet your stack over at least four wagers, with $100+ on each. Here are the eleven bets on offer.
- Diamondbacks Wins: 86½
- Justin Upton - BA: .290
- Justin Upton - Total HR's 29½
- Justin Upton - Total RBI's 90½
- Chris Young - Total HR's 22½
- Jason Kubel - Total HR's 20½
- Aaron Hill - Total HR's 17½
- Ian Kennedy -Total Wins 14½
- Daniel Hudson - Total Wins 13½
- Trevor Cahill - Total Wins 12½
- J.J. Putz - Total Saves 35½
And just for interest, here are the current odds for all thirty teams to win the 2012 World Series. Any of these numbers stand out as being particularly generous or stingy?
| Philadelphia Phillies | 11/2 | |
| Los Angeles Angels | 7/1 | |
| New York Yankees | 7/1 | |
| Detroit Tigers | 15/2 | |
| Boston Red Sox | 10/1 | |
| Texas Rangers | 10/1 | |
| San Francisco Giants | 14/1 | |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 18/1 | |
| Cincinnati Reds | 20/1 | |
| 20/1 | ||
| Atlanta Braves | 22/1 | |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 25/1 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 25/1 | |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 28/1 | |
| Washington Nationals | 30/1 | |
| Colorado Rockies | 35/1 | |
| Chicago Cubs | 40/1 | |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 40/1 | |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 40/1 | |
| Cleveland Indians | 60/1 | |
| Chicago White Sox | 65/1 | |
| Minnesota Twins | 75/1 | |
| Kansas City Royals | 80/1 | |
| New York Mets | 80/1 | |
| Oakland Athletics | 80/1 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 100/1 | |
| San Diego Padres | 100/1 | |
| Seattle Mariners | 100/1 | |
| Baltimore Orioles | 150/1 | |
| Houston Astros | 200/1 |
To lob in my two cents' worth om these, 28/1 for Arizona seems pretty good odds, and I'd contemplate throwing a Benjamin Franklin in the direction of that bet. Wouldn't have put us behind the Marlins and Braves, not least because they have to contend with the Phillies in the NL East. Speaking of which 11/2 seems very tight odds on them - as we saw last year, once the post-season is reached, just about anything can, and probably will happen. Any odds that are less than 7/1 this seem particularly miserly.