You Hate to See It
Some poor soul put $264,000 on the Cardinals moneyline on Tuesday only to watch them get crushed 16-5
Feeling down about the state of your bets lately? Feels like you haven’t cashed one since the Reagan administration? Wondering if you should hang it up and retire before a new (and financially ruinous) football season arrives? Take heart, downcast degenerate. While the story we’re about to tell you is not a happy one, it may yet serve to lift your spirits.
On Tuesday, an unspecified whale plunked down $264,000 at Caesars on the St. Louis Cardinals moneyline, which sat around -169 ahead of the Cards' series opener against the Colorado Rockies. Assuming the Cardinals came through, the bettor stood to clear a little over $156,000—not chump change by any stretch of the imagination, but also not a life-changing figure if you already have $264,000 to wager on a regular season baseball game. High risk, middling reward in other words.
The Cardinals were red-hot coming into the game, having won nine of 10, including a three-game sweep of the AL-leading Yankees. Easy money, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well, by the third inning, we got our answer, and the answer was everything.
That’s enough to make you sick. The Cardinals were down 12-0 after fourth thanks to a historically bad performance from starting pitcher Mike Mikolas, and would eventually go on to lose 16-5. As a result, this poor sap is now out over a quarter million dollars. Like we said, this is not a happy story. The only winner is Vegas. But next time you’re feeling bad about yourself—the next time you feel like you’re done for-real-this-time-I-swear—just be glad you’re not this bettor. Just remember that everybody loses. If they didn’t, what would be the point?