LAS VEGAS — At the halfway point of the major-league season, the great race is in the basement. A poor start by the White Sox made me bolt to the MGM to ignite my first phone app.
The Sox awoke, however, and that app let me remove that investment and place it on the Angels at +350 (or risk $100 to win $350).
In the preseason, I had pondered 17-1 on the Angels occupying the cellar because listless owner Arte Moreno had given former catcher Kurt Suzuki his first shot at managing — at any level.
A string of defeats, however, persuaded me to buy the Angels, and outfielder Mike Trout (right hamstring) has returned to the infirmary.
Entering play Friday, the Angels had 48 losses. The Rockies (49), the Royals (also 48) and the Giants, Tigers and Mets (all with 47) round out that futility battle.
When I escaped that Sox bet, I also grabbed +600 odds, at BetMGM, on Japanese southpaw slugger Munetaka Murakami to win American League Rookie of the Year.
A hamstring tweak has sidelined him, but the surprising Sox remain in the AL Central hunt. With 20 home runs, Murakami is tied with four others in sixth place. He’ll return around the All-Star break.
Should he immediately return to form, Murakami (with current +700 odds) will give Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle (the -175 favorite) a run for that rookie silverware.
It does appear the Sox will avoid a fourth consecutive 100-defeat season. They had lost 323 games in the last three seasons, during which the Rockies dropped 324.
The Rockies are headed for a fourth season in a row with triple-digit defeats, which will tie it with the first four seasons of the Mets franchise for post-World War II infamy.
The mile-low club
Those losses anger Rox fan Brett Okamoto, ESPN’s stellar UFC reporter, a Colorado native and great pal.
‘‘I blame ownership,’’ he says. ‘‘The way they treated ‘Tulo’ [Troy Tulowitzki] and Nolan [Arenado] on their way out, who would ever want to play there?’’
(Regulars will recall it was with Okamoto that I had made a bet before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. For $300, I took the United States to not win the tourney up to and including 2030. A few weeks ago, before this World Cup started, I offered Brett a buyout of $100 and a beer. He accepted.)
Charlie and Dick Monfort are the Rockies’ majority owners. Two months ago, the Penner Group, which owns the Broncos, purchased 40% of the baseball franchise.
Okamoto, like many Rockies fans, hopes the Penners take full control of the baseball team sooner rather than later.
‘‘No idea what they’re doing,’’ Brett says, with harsh words I can’t print here, of the Monforts. ‘‘The problem starts there.’’
Close call?
I followed Southern California handicapper Tommy Lorenzo’s preseason advice to fade the Nationals and got in early, at William Hill, to bet under its projection of 69½ wins.
Hordes followed, slicing that to 65½.
Slugger James Wood and the rest of his teammates are laughing at us. They entered play Friday at 41-41, translating to an 81-victory campaign.
Lorenzo remains bullish that the Nats will sink, as they did last season. They were 30-33 before finishing 36-63 (.364).
A similar winning percentage would mean a 30-50 finish in 2026 and a record of 71-91. It might be tight, but I think that ticket’s a coaster.
Power outages
The Nats are a single pock on an otherwise-solid preseason prognostication track record for Lorenzo.
He tabbed under the home-run projections for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (29½) and Roman Anthony (21½). Entering Friday, Vlad had only four and Anthony only one.
ToLo also appears to have nailed Yankees ace Cam Schlittler for AL Cy Young, at 300-1.
Kudos on Kurtz, Rice
On Long Island, handicapper Tom Barton also scored with Schlittler (8-4, 1.62 ERA), buying 75-1 Cy Young odds on him. I grabbed a 60-1 ticket.
‘‘I had him in the preseason,’’ Barton says, ‘‘because I called him the best pitcher this side of [Paul] Skenes, and he is showing that.’’
When Bombers slugger Aaron Judge went down with a rib injury, Barton nabbed A’s basher Nick Kurtz for AL MVP.
‘‘I still think there is value in Kurtz, at 12-1,’’ he says. ‘‘He represents the future, which voters like. While Yordan [Alvarez] and [Bobby] Witt are good, they might not make the playoffs. If the A’s win the [AL West], it’s Kurtz all the way.’’
Barton erred, he says, in taking pitcher Max Fried (4-3), out since mid-May, to win more than 12 games and the Reds (37-42 entering Friday) to win more than 80 games.
On the profit side, Yankees youngster Ben Rice to smack more than his 26½ projected homers (he has 22) was the best bet Barton presented to his clients. Rice hitting better than .245 (he was at .281 entering Friday) was Barton’s second-largest wager.
Boomer Sooner
Barely two weeks into the college season, on Feb. 25, I scanned NCAA records to find Oklahoma was the only team among the top 10 in both batting average and ERA. I bought a 30-1 title ticket on the Sooners.
Oklahoma won it all Monday with a 13-2 victory against North Carolina.
The lesson, kids?
Do your homework.