As Sox season dawns, bet on only action being on the field
The 2022 Boston Red Sox are loaded. They shall rake. It is written. If only there was a way to make money on any of this? Boston’s starting lineup includes two players who started for the AL All-Star Team in 2021. J.D. Martinez can now blast dingers when the Red Sox visit the World Champion Braves, Cubs, and Pirates. All thanks to the universal DH.
The Boston Red Sox were the Pittsburgh Red Sox until they signed freeagent superhero Trevor Story. Boston put his name on a 6-year, $140 million deal. Story’s tale has the potential to be “Mookie Betts Redux” or “Carl Crawford – The Sequel.”
With Christian Vazquez behind the plate, Xander Bogaerts at short, Story at second, and new full-time leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez in center, no team in baseball is better up the middle than John W. Henry’s.
The pitching?
We’ll check back when Chris Sale gets healthy.
Money can buy World Series buzz. It does not guarantee World Series rings.
Ask Hal Steinbrenner.
The Yankees will pay Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson $88.6 million this year. The Evil Empire shelled out roughly $4 billion in payroll since 2001. It has just one World Series celebration to show for all that profligate spending and those underperforming lineups.
The Red Sox and Yankees “rivalry” has devolved into a one-sided beatdown. The Red Sox are 3-0 in the postseason against the Yankees since A-Rod landed in the Bronx.
Talk about “unanswered prayers.” The Red Sox cowed the Yankees 6-2 in their 2021 Wild Card game. The late, great Jerry Remy threw a ceremonial pre-game toss to Dennis Eckersley. Bogaerts deposited Cole’s 17th pitch of the game, a flaccid 88 mph change-up, in center field 427 feet away from home plate. That victory delivered atonement for Eck and Remy, who were on the losing side of Game 163 against the Yankees in 1978.
There is money to be made backing the Red Sox this year. At least outside the Bay State.
Boston is -120 to reach the playoffs. It has a projected victory total of 85.5 at -110. Taking the Red Sox to make the expanded postseason and go over 85.5 wins at those odds offers a +250 return via parlay. Boston is: +550 to win the AL East. +1100 to win the AL pennant. +2200 to win the World Series. All great value plays. But not necessarily wise wagers.
The Red Sox are +5.5 wins in their season matchbet against the New York Yankees and +3.5 wins over the Mets. Both offer even-money odds.
Take the play against the Yankees, who missed badly on their win total last year. The Amazins’ rotation will mow down the National League, anchored by Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
Rafael Devers (-115) has a slight edge with oddsmakers to hit more home runs than Aaron Judge (-105) head-to-head. It’s against our religion to bet on Judge.
Speaking of Devers, his over/under at the plate is 37.5 home runs, 113.5 RBI, 171.5 hits. We like the over, under, and over.
Devers +2000 to win AL MVP honors. Bogaerts is +4500. Pass. These prices are at Bostonbased DraftKings.
Sadly, you cannot legally act upon any of this in Massachusetts.
Opening Day belatedly arrives for
Major League
Baseball Thursday. The Red Sox begin defense of their secondplace AL East finish at 1:05 p.m. in the Bronx.
Fans at 11 MLB parks can legally bet from their seats when the season begins. Four states that border Massachusetts – New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York – allow mobile sports betting.
If Red Sox fans want to legally hammer the over whenever Michael Wacha starts, the shortest drive from Fenway Park is to Salem, N.H. After a 31.8-mile trek, you can stop at the IHOP on Broadway, order a stack of blueberry pancakes with bacon, and wager until your syrup-sticky fingers go numb on the DraftKings betting app.
Thanks to the continued shenanigans on Beacon Hill, Devers might be launching bombs for the Yankees before people in Massachusetts can gamble their finances on the Red Sox. Gov. Charlie Baker calls sports betting “a fact of life.” The State House passed a sports betting bill last July, 1563. At least 60% of those in the Bay State Senate support legal sports betting, according to a survey by the State House News Service.
Even Maura Healey has flipped and is backing sports betting.
State senate president Karen Spilka remains a chalk-blocker when it comes to sports betting in Massachusetts. She skillfully uses semantics to both keep hope alive and crush any real chance of it happening.
No wonder she’s in charge.
“If we’re able to reach a consensus, the intention is to bring it to the floor and debate it on the floor and let the senators decide,” she said last week. There’s no public mention from Sen. Spilka or anyone else what sort of elements are needed in a final bill for “consensus.”
That is by design when you really don’t want a final bill in the first place.
If only the legislature’s upper body was so cautious when it came to keeping the state’s gas tax.
It appears someone got to Senate Ways and Means Committee chairman Michael Rodrigues. The Housepassed sports betting bill has fallen into a stupor in his committee. Much like the Patriots during free agency. In March, Rodrigues told the State House News Service he was “fine” with the concept of sports betting legislation. Three days later, he revised his remarks, saying he was “fine with how the process was proceeding.”
No action on a bill that passed 255 days ago? Only in Massachusetts would an elected official be satisfied with that sort of “progress.” Millions in betting-based revenue await the state’s coffers from annual fees and tax revenue.
But the trough clearly isn’t deep enough.
At least not yet.
Enjoy the drive.
And those pancakes.