Place your bets on the 2017 Arizona Diamondbacks

Last year, 31 people entered the SnakePit Casino, and bravely chances their arms on the outcome of the 2016 season for the D-backs. I would like to thank them for their hypothetical contributions, as I sip my margarita beside the extension to SnakePit Towers which these wagers funded. For only eight of those 31 turned a profit with their bets, the communal tally being a loss of just over S$23,000, about half of the amount wagered. Will this year go any better? Here’s where we find out, as we welcome you to our 6th annual betting frenzy. For those who need a refresher, let me top up your glass...

How it works

I'm bankrolling each of you with S$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 2 .

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.

To place a bet, you simply put your lines and amount wagered on each, in the comments below. For ease of my inputting them into the spreadsheet, entry lines should be in the form:

• Diamondbacks team - Wins, S$300, 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 S$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 bets on offer, from bovada.lv. All player lines are transferable, so if anyone is traded, the line goes with them. Only regular season games are counted too - I hope this becomes a factor in October!

We’ll have updates about every month, as we go through the season, keeping score as the lines move back and forth from over to under. Last year, shoewizard and Diamondhacks were the only participants to win all their bets: do you feel good/lucky enough to join them in 2017? Here are the wagers available this season.

The available bets

• Diamondbacks team - Wins 77½
• Paul Goldschmidt - BA .299
• Paul Goldschmidt - HR 30½
• Paul Goldschmidt - RBI 100½
• Paul Goldschmidt - Runs 99½
• A.J. Pollock - HR 14½
• A.J. Pollock - BA .290
• A.J. Pollock - Stolen Bases 29½
• David Peralta - BA .290
• Jake Lamb - HR's 24½
• Jake Lamb - RBI 79½
• Yasmany Tomas - HR 24½
• Yasmany Tomas - RBI 80½
• Zach Greinke - Wins 13½
• Zach Greinke - Strikeouts 179½
• Zach Greinke - ERA 3.40
• Taijuan Walker - Wins 9½
• Fernando Rodney - Saves 19½