Sometimes — not very often, it seems — the baseball bounces in favor of the Book. On Monday night, not only did the lowly Nationals beat the Dodgers, the A’s toppled the Astros, and the Padres and Braves both lost. “It was a really good day, a really good day,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director. “All the parlays were pretty much killed off with the underdogs dominating the day.”
For that one day, the Book was bringing more heat than Lotus of Siam. (On Tuesday, most of the favorites won, and the baseball world righted itself.) With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back over the sports landscape and take a peek at what’s ahead on the field, the diamond, the court and on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Book.
Wild Thing
Get ready to see baseball odds fluctuate more than your weight during college. With the trade deadline fast approaching, we will soon find out which teams are buyers and sellers. In terms of teams like the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Padres, they’re clearly buyers. The Cubs, Nationals, Reds and A’s are clearly sellers. What happens with the Orioles, Red Sox and Giants, all of whom are a long way from winning their division but could still claim a playoff spot via the Wild Cards?
“We’re kind of in a critical period,” Esposito said. What makes this year so interesting is that three Wild Card teams will make the postseason in addition to the division winners. This creates a bit of nervousness on the part of the Sports Book due to the fact that the Mariners and Orioles both had astronomically high odds during the season, but are very much in play for the postseason.
“When you have teams like that go on rolls, it definitely creates a little bit more liability with people taking a shot,” Esposito said. “The key with baseball is that you have more teams making the postseason right now, so it really did open things up for these two teams to maybe be potential buyers and have a shot at a Wild Card spot.” Because of the expanded playoffs, baseball could be more wide open than the dirt lot that “houses” the All Net Resort on The Strip.
Football Countdown
Do not look now, but football is right around the corner! Not only does the NFL preseason begin next week with the Raiders and Jags in the Hall of Fame Game, but the college football season kicks off in four weeks! Over the few days Station Casinos Race and Sports Book’s and STN Sports App added a jackpot of passing, rushing and receiving yards props. There’s already been higher interest than a current mortgage rate.
Bettors, it seems, are not buying into Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins, as guests are betting that both men will go under the posted numbers for gross passing yards and touchdowns. Joe Burrow is trending the opposite way. “We’ve seen a lot of over money on him,” Esposito said. “Bettors clearly like Burrow to go over in almost every category so far.”
Fight Night
The blackjack tables won’t be the only things getting hit this weekend, as UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña gets a chance to prove that her massive upset win over Amanda Nunes was far from a fluke. Thus far, the bettors are siding the champ. Still, the fight is seeing less life than a boating day at Lake Mead but that will certainly change.
“With UFC, you don’t really see the action pick up until the 24 or 48 hours leading up to the big fight,” Esposito said. “The early action has clearly been on Peña at this point. There’s been some value on her and her price has dropped.” With both UFC and boxing, the larger plays usually come in a day or two before fights. “Anything you see before that usually is more of the sophisticated type,” Esposito said. “So the fact that this price has dropped somewhat shows that the sharp betters clearly like Peña based on what the price value is.”
She’s Got Game
There’s still another month left in the WNBA season, but it certainly looks like the cream has already risen to the top. The Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky appear to be the two best teams in the league. The two teams even gave fans a possible Finals preview on Tuesday when they squared off for the Commissioner’s Cup. The Aces had a rather easy time, knocking off the Sky 93-83, which covered the over.
“We saw a championship type of handle,” Espositosaid. “All the early money was on the Sky and the line moved up. We also saw the total go up three points with guests betting the over. The Aces money all came in at the end.” You haven’t seen a more dominant Ace since Robert De Niro was in charge of the Tangiers.
LIVin’ For Tonight
As the LIV golf promotion continues to pluck players away from the PGA, the Sports Book is having to adapt and with fewer top-line golfers playing in PGA tournaments, an opportunity is being created. “The field has been diluted a little bit with these guys playing in different tournaments. I think it gives more value to ‘the field’ bets, and I think it gives more value to every golfer on the board,” Esposito said. “We had a phenomenal handle with the British Open, but we’re seeing more and more action on the LIV tournaments.”
For this week’s LIV tournament, Dustin Johnson and “the field” are the favorites. Over at the PGA’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, “the field” is a very large favorite. This might be the only time you can tell your wife or husband you want to “play the field” and not get slapped. Take advantage! The STN Sports App and Station Casinos Race and Sports Book have also posted prop bets for both competing entities.
Bets To Know
We’re a week away from the start of Pro Football’s preseason and that means we’re one step closer to football season. If you’ve got the itch for football action, the line for the Hall of Fame Game on August 4 between Las Vegas and Jacksonville is live on the STN Sports App.
Weekly Winners
$25 to hit for $3,309! This STN Sports bettor hit a nice 8-team parlay across baseball on Tuesday, July 26.
CARDINALS OV 4½-125 (A PALLANTE/J BERRIOS)
GUARDIANS OV 5½-115 (B SHAW/J WINCKOWSKI)
YANKEES OV 4-115 (J MONTGOMERY/T WALKER)
RAYS OV 7½-115 (S MCCLANAHAN/S WATKINS)
TWINS OV 9-120 (D BUNDY/E SMALL)
GIANTS OV 8½-110 (C RODON/T GILBERT)
NATIONALS OV 8½-125 (J GRAY/M WHITE)
RANGERS OV 8-125 (D DUNNING/G KIRBY)