This article isn’t about me, but I’m going to make it about me for a second. I started working for BangTheBook in the spring of 2013. I’ve been very interested in the industry for over a decade. Things have changed in that span. While some things remain the same and some sportsbooks still operate in as risk-averse of a manner as they can, there are others out there pushing the envelope each and every day.
When you think of sports seasons, college football starts in August. The NFL starts in August. College basketball starts in November. The NBA and NHL start in October. Not in the sports betting industry. Seasons used to start maybe a month or two in advance in terms of season win totals and game lines. The futures market has always been a reminder of the 365-day transaction period for each and every league, but that was it.
As a big baseball fan, I’ve always been excited to see season win totals. It means that the snow and cold is almost over and that those warm summer nights at the ballpark are coming soon. Those season win totals used to open in March. Then they started opening in February at Atlantis Sportsbook in Reno.
Now, they open in January.
That’s because Jeff Davis, Matt Lindeman, and the odds team at Caesars Palace opened up MLB season win total betting odds on January 8, 2019. A willingness to take on some exposure and venture out into unexplored waters is something that a lot of entities won’t do. Caesars has regularly done it over the last few months and they deserve to be commended for that.
Alright, now for the odds themselves. As somebody who writes over 100,000 words on the MLB season year in and year out with my season win total previews and my MLB Betting Guide, these are certainly of interest to me.
My work had already begun in the baseball department, but there is an added pressure now to move forward at a heightened pace. I’ll refrain from calling out any win totals that I would bet right now at this very second because I haven’t done all of my research and there are still a lot of free agents to sign and players to trade, but it is phenomenal to have a baseline to keep in mind now with these teams.
Here are the odds as posted by Caesars Palace on January 8 (alphabetical by division; all juice was -110 at open):
Baltimore Orioles 59
Boston Red Sox 95.5
New York Yankees 96.5
Tampa Bay Rays 85.5
Toronto Blue Jays 76.5
Chicago White Sox 74.5
Cleveland Indians 91.5
Detroit Tigers 67
Kansas City Royals 69
Minnesota Twins 84
Houston Astros 97.5
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 83.5
Oakland Athletics 83
Seattle Mariners 74.5
Texas Rangers 70.5
Atlanta Braves 84
Miami Marlins 65.5
New York Mets 83.5
Philadelphia Phillies 83
Washington Nationals 88.5
Chicago Cubs 89
Cincinnati Reds 77
Milwaukee Brewers 83.5
Pittsburgh Pirates 78.5
St. Louis Cardinals 88.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 77
Colorado Rockies 82
Los Angeles Dodgers 95
San Diego Padres 77.5
San Francisco Giants 73
For what it’s worth, these have $1,000 limits and are sure to have moved a little bit by now, but it’s still good to see MLB numbers this early in the process. The question now is how long these will stand alone in the market before other places either copy these numbers or post a set of their own.
It’s crazy to think spring when winter is only a few weeks old, but that’s what we’re able to do with this set of numbers and it means that it’s time for me to really get to work. We have big things planned for this year’s MLB offerings, so keep it tuned to BangTheBook.com for all your baseball betting needs.
