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As first time around, 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 the first pitch on April 1, and will revisit this on about a monthly basis until the end of the regular season, to see who comes out with the biggest pot of winnings. Last year, Diamondhacks came out on top, but overall, the 'Pit collectively ended up almost $9,000 below the line, so we sucked a great deal more than we broke the bank. If you're unclear on the basic concept, here is the intro from last year
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.
For ease of my inputting them into the spreadsheet, 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 can bet no more than $500 on any single wager, so you've got to have at least three lines. You can have more, of course, by betting less than the limit. Here are the eleven bets on offer.
- Diamondbacks - Total Wins in the 2013 Regular Season 81½
- Martin Prado - Total BA in the 2013 Regular Season .299
- Jason Kubel - Total HR's in the 2013 Regular Season 24½
- Aaron Hill - Total HR's in the 2013 Regular Season 20½
- Paul Goldschmidt - Total HR's in the 2013 Regular Season 25½
- Ian Kennedy -Total Wins in the 2013 Regular Season 14½
- Trevor Cahill - Total Wins in the 2013 Regular Season 12½
- Wade Miley - Total Wins in the 2013 Regular Season 14
- J.J. Putz - Total Saves in the 2013 Regular Season 34½
and, just to annoy people - Justin Upton - Total HR's in the 2013 Regular Season 27½
- Justin Upton - BA in the 2013 Regular Season .285
Thanks to Bovada for their help with this. We will also be running a weekly SnakeLines contest throughout the year. It'll be a simple "Over/Under" pick for the week without a bet amount, and might be a player or team wager - if you get it right, you get a point. Most points over the season wins. The first line for that will go up on Sunday, but will be a regular Friday feature the rest of the way.