At this time of the year, we are gearing up to walk outside, sit on a lawn, and soak in the sun. We have been inside for what feels like months now, and are yearning to step outside at any chance we can get.
And nothing beats baseball. We are some of the first people to hate on some aspects of baseball. This sport is enjoyable to watch, but it gets so repetitive. The sport almost outlasts three elemental seasons. When Fenway opens up, fans will flood to stadiums and betters will flood to their sportsbooks to place their bets for the season. The excitement is palpable, as the sports betting industry becomes an increasingly mainstream part of the sports experience.
The MLB has made efforts to speed up the game and add more action to appeal to a younger audience. These changes also make the game even more unpredictable and thrilling to bet on but not really that much faster. The pitch clock has sped the sport up significantly, and the average duration is around 2 hours and 45 minutes. These stories have come at a time when baseball itself is undergoing changes.
Yet, it is the repetition, the stats, the history, the lazy afternoons in the bleachers, and the sudden bursts of unparalleled excitement that make it America’s pastime. Baseball is more than a sport—it’s a long-standing tradition that sews generations together with a thread of shared memories. We bet everyone can still remember watching “Field of Dreams” for the first time with their father.
As a sportsbook, we could not imagine ignoring the hottest news in the last 10 years of the sport: Shohei Ohtani. This has been one incredible offseason for the $700 million-dollar-man. First, he signed one of the most groundbreaking contracts in modern sports history, by deferring 680 of his 700 million dollars so that his Japanese teammate, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, could join the Dodgers as well. When he joined the team, Yamamoto had a shaky start to the season in a matchup in South Korea, a few days before the season started for the rest of Major League Baseball (MLB).
But then the news broke. Or did it? A swath of stories surrounding Ohtani and his translator, Ippei Mazuhara, about gambling debt started to explode, and everyone heard different stories. At first, Ippei was making a speech to the Dodgers about thanking Ohtani for paying off his $4.5 million gambling debt; then, we all heard that Ippei stole the money and that Ohtani had no idea what people were talking about. And the stories never stopped. We have not really heard anything about this since Ippei was fired and pushed under the rug by MLB. Now the only mention is March Madness updates and fake translations of Ohtani telling people to bet $100k on Oakland to beat Kentucky.
While we might not be able to give you locks in the same way that Shohei Ohtani can, here are the best picks for the upcoming season:
Most home runs, Mookie Betts (+3500): Mookie Betts’s 2018 season was one of the best hitting seasons that I have ever seen. Hitting .346 and having an OPS over 1.000, Betts led the Red Sox to the World Series in 2018 and won the MVP. I expect him to hit the peak of his slugging career and lead the MLB in home runs.
Orioles over 89.5 wins (-125): This line just feels like a steal. This team was super young last season and only continues to get better. They won over 100 games last season, and their guys will continue to improve as the season goes on. This one almost feels like an eternal lock.
Red Sox over 78.5 (-140): We have already thrown over a thousand on this line. We think it’s a joke to assume this team is not even .500. They have an extremely young core of players that have some spark and are exciting (as long as they all stay healthy).
Rays over 85.5 (+110): We know the front office has not really been as sharp as in the past, and they have lost a lot of their coaches to other teams aspiring for bigger roles, but they still have a lot of talent. We know that this means we bet over 3/5 in the AL East, but who cares—it’s the best division in baseball for a reason.
We decided that we are no longer going to give “under” predictions, because some of us, who shall remain unnamed, have decided they are no longer spreading hate in the world. (But if you want to look for unders, look no further than the AL Central.)
Luke Wagner (lukewagner@college.harvard.edu) is the Sports Editor of the Independent.