The Tampa Bay Rays’ price to win the World Series stared me in the face for about two hours yesterday. And that’s not an exaggeration by any means.
I kept logging into PointsBet Sportsbook and refreshing the page, hoping the series price would climb a little higher. It never budged from Dodgers -200 and Rays +160. My gut kept telling me that the underdog price wasn’t juicy enough and I knew I wanted more wiggle room.
So I went back to ol’ reliable – the series handicap bet.
We used this strategy with the Heat +2.5 games against the Lakers in the NBA Finals and also the Braves +1.5 games against the Dodgers in the NLCS. It’s a great way to bet an underdog while also getting that extra cushion in case they don’t actually win the series.[[ad:athena]]
PointsBet is dealing Dodgers -1.5 games (-105) and Rays +1.5 games (-130). The juice on the pup is a little more expensive than it’s been over the last few weeks, but I’ll gladly lay -130 if you’re going to spot me 1.5 games.
I believe Tampa Bay is the most fundamentally sound team in baseball. They pitch and catch the ball better than anybody and they rarely beat themselves. That’s a team worth betting. Obviously, it’s always a little dangerous picking against the heavy favorite, but there are some big loopy swings in that Dodger lineup that can be exposed by superior pitching.
We get Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell two times each in the World Series and that’s a very big deal. The Rays’ infield sucks up ground balls like a vacuum cleaner and all three outfielders have range, led by an absolute ballhawk in center fielder Kevin Kiermaier. Rays manager Kevin Cash has done a tremendous job of pushing all the right buttons in the bullpen. And I’ve talked at length about how Clayton Kershaw doesn’t scare me in the playoffs.
Give me the fundamentally sound underdog with better overall pitching and better defense. And the Rays don’t even have to win it all to win the bet. It’ll cash no matter what if the series reaches Game 7.
Play on the Rays +1.5 games (-130) in the World Series.
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