The gambling public is putting their money on the Cubs:
“Every year, they bet the Cubs,” Jeff Stoneback, assistant manager at MGM race and sports. “I could be their ace and you could be their No. 2 starter, and they’d still bet them.”
The Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908. But with the offseason additions of manager Joe Maddon and ace starter Jon Lester, bettors this is their year.
In October, William Hill opened the Cubs at 40-1 and promptly took a $1,000 bet. The Cubs are now 10-1 at William Hill, where 10 percent of the total amount wagered on the World Series odds is on Chicago.
It’s almost like the people who see a roulette wheel come up black 10 times in a row, then bet on red because they think that the run makes the odds of red higher.
There’s a nice chart in the post showing how the odds changed since the opening of betting. It looks to me like bettors are underestimating the Cardinals and the Angels.
Look, I’m a White Sox fan. But that change from 50/1 to 10/1 shows a lot of people betting way too much on them.
I’m a 50-year Cub fan and even I think being a Cub fan requires a certain narrow but near-infinite stupidity, gullibility, or maybe just some kind of insane contrariness. Now I have an excuse, having actually grown up a mile from the Vortex of The Dismal known as Wrigley Field, and having started walking to games at age 9 with my brothers. But it doesn’t surprise me that Cub fans are waving the “It’s Gonna Happen!” tee shirts. Hell, the Lakota bet everything on the Ghost Dance in 1890 too, and I think the Cubs will end up in roughly the same shape. They have a head start – their dwelling place has already been half leveled and their would-be leader, Kris “Dances Round Bases” Bryant has been shipped off to a reservation.
Of course, I’ll be there with Dave Jackson ’81-’82 at one of those stupid Bryantless bleacherless April night game torture sessions anyway, so I guess I’m part of the problem.