With the All-Star break in Major League Baseball upon us, it is time to take a look at which teams lost bettors the most money in the first half. You might be surprised to find last year’s World Series finalists on this list.
San Francisco Giants
Sports Betting Losses: -2,179
The Giants’ 34 wins are second-lowest in the majors, so that’s one reason why they’re not profitable; they’re not good. They’re 28th in runs with 341, 24th with a .243 batting average, 28th with a .304 on-base percentage and 30th with a .373 slugging percentage. However, the Giants aren’t as good on the mound as they usually are, ranking 19th in ERA at 4.64. The bullpen is letting them down as they’re 3rd in quality starts, but the relievers can’t hold leads. That’s one reason why the Giants are 24 games behind their rivals from Los Angeles, who sit at the top of the National League West. Also, their schedule has been brutal as the Giants have played 11 more games on the road, going 17-32 as opposed to 17-21 at home.
Philadelphia Phillies
Sports Betting Losses: -2,117
The Phillies, like the Giants, are a bad baseball team and their 28 wins are the lowest in the majors. Like the Giants, they’ve played more games on the road (13-33) than at home (15-23), so that has something to do with it. But they’re just bad across the board as they don’t rank higher than 25th in any of the major hitting categories (29th in runs, 25th in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage and 26th in slugging percentage), and 22nd in the pitching categories (24th in ERA, tied for 22nd in quality starts, 25th in WHIP and 26th in batting average). All that adds up to a lot of losing, and a lot of losing money.
Chicago Cubs
Sports Betting Losses: -1,895
The defending World Series champions have had a terrible first half, trailing Milwaukee in the NL Central and their World Series hangover doesn’t seem to be going away. They’ve been awful on the road with a 19-25 record. Their offense hasn’t been good at all, ranking 17th in runs, 29th in batting average, 18th in on-base percentage and 21st in slugging percentage. Their pitching is holding them in it, and that’s only the bullpen as the Cubs are tied for 22nd in quality starts. They’re 10th in ERA, 9th in WHIP and 6th in batting average.
Cleveland Indians
Sports Betting Losses: -1,783
The Indians lost to the Cubs in the World Series, but they’re battling hard to lead the American League Central. So why are they not profitable? A 19-23 record at home is for starters. They have also gone over the posted total only 30 times so far this season, which also has something to do with it. They have good numbers as the Indians rank between 6th and 13th in the major hitting categories, and between 2nd and 12th in the major pitching categories. But they have to be a little better at home to turn around their profit margin. Quite frankly, they’re only leading the AL Central because the rest of the division is really bad.
New York Mets
Sports Betting Losses: -1462
When the Mets are talking about bringing back Bartolo Colon, you know the season has been a disaster. We’re talking about a team that was expected to be back in the playoffs and possibly contending for a World Series. As it turns out, the Mets are seven games under .500 as we enter Friday. They have lost three straight and have been outscored by 41 runs on the season. What’s shocking is that they’re not even in second place in their lousy division as the Atlanta Braves are better than them.
Pitching has been a huge issue for the Mets as Noah Syndergaars has only made five starts (injuries) while nobody outside of Jacob DeGrom has been reliable. Matt Harvey and Zach Wheeler have ERA’s over 5.00. And of course, a lot of the batting problems they had last year have carried over. Only Neil Walker and Michal Conforto are their only regulars batting over .270.
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