Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

The Mets are the betting favorites in the NL East and World Series, with the Phillies not far behind

The Mets' and Phillies' odds have gotten better since the season began. And Ranger Suarez could cost sports books a lot of money if he wins the NL Cy Young Award.

The Mets' James McCann scores past Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto during the seventh inning on Monday.
The Mets' James McCann scores past Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto during the seventh inning on Monday.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

It’s shaping up to be the biggest year ever for the Phillies-Mets rivalry. The Mets have the second-highest payroll in baseball and Phillies owner John Middleton bit the cigar and finally went over the luxury tax. The money is being spent off the field on the Mets and Phillies, too.

At FanDuel, the most money is backing the Mets to win the World Series followed by the Yankees, Dodgers, and Phillies. In National League pennant futures, the Mets and Phillies are the top choices.

Not to make Mr. Met’s head any bigger, but the Mets are also the most bet team by percentage of handle to win the World Series, NL pennant and NL East at DraftKings.

But another book tells a different story. At BetMGM, the most cash is on the Phillies to win the NL East and they are the sportsbook’s biggest liabilities in the NL pennant and World Series futures market.

The Phillies and Mets also saw substantial World Series odds movement. The Phillies opened at +3500 and are now +2000. The Mets were +2000 and are currently +1200.

Another interesting tidbit out of BetMGM came from NL Cy Young futures. It’s no surprise that the most money is on Jacob deGrom to win. However, Phillies pitcher Ranger Suárez is its biggest liability in the NL CY Young market.

Why is a Ranger a danger for the sportsbook?

He opened at +20000 and moved to +8000 and has about 11% of the money.

Esports betting

From America’s pastime to the future of betting. Last week, Esports Entertainment Group became the first company to get approval in New Jersey to take bets on esports.

Their betting platform VIE.gg, a sportsbook for esports, allows New Jersey-based users to wager on popular esports like Call of Duty and Overwatch.

Esports Entertainment Group also made history when it hosted the first sanctioned skill-based wagering event in the U.S. in March at Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City.

“The biggest complaint we had from the players was that we weren’t letting them bet big enough. They wanted to bet $100 a match,” said CEO Grant Johnson. State regulators capped the max bet for the event at $25.

The event debuted LANDuel, EEG’s player-vs.-player, skill-based wagering platform for esports. In the future, Johnson says players will be able to download the LANDuel software, log in to the app, and play against others.

Wagering on esports has been around for about five years but largely existed in gray markets. The recent developments in New Jersey represent a big step forward for player-vs.-player esports betting.

“The future is going to be in esports and esports betting,” Johnson said. “It’s going mainstream. I see a period in time about 10 years from now where there will be March Madness for esports. Gen Xers prefer it. That’s the entertainment they have been playing and following.”

Is betting on esports the future? Consider…

  1. About 200 universities offer varsity esports.

  2. There are 29.6 million monthly esports viewers.

  3. Does your kid watch YouTube videos of other people playing video games?

  4. Johnson estimated esports betting to reach $205 billion by 2027.

Nerd Street Gamers opened the world’s first esports industry campus on Broad Street in April 2021.

“Esports has received a lot of attention and has become incredibly popular in mainstream media; however, adoption is still in its infant stages,” said Nerd Street CEO John Fazio. “While growing by the day, only a fraction of a fraction of a percent of gamers in the U.S. participate in esports. As the physical infrastructure and competitive pathways continue to expand, those numbers will grow until competitive video games inevitably pass the adoption rate of competitive sports.”

Katie Kohler is the managing editor at Play Pennsylvania where she writes about sports betting and casinos.