1 Cardinals' Fan's Faith

[Adamsince1981]

"Back on Sept. 12, when the St. Louis Cardinals trailed the National League wild card by 4 1/2 games with 15 to play in the season, some slaphappy fan at the MGM sports book in Las Vegas put down $500 of faith in his team.
What were the odds that the Cardinals were going to come back from the brink and make something of themselves and make this dude some cash? Well, not only can we tell you the odds, but we can also tell you what the payoff is.
[Related: Ian Kinsler steals a bag and Game 2 for the Rangers]
The sap true believer, Deadspin reports, wagered $250 at 500-to-1 odds that Team Fredbird would take the NL pennant, along with another $250 — at 999-to-1 odds — that the Cardinals would win the World Series."

 

[smapdi]

Whoever booked that bet, if it actually happened, is probably fired. It just doesn't seem that farfetched to me to make up 4.5 games out of 15, especially if the team you're chasing is faltering as the Braves were.

But let's see...does the house in Vegas take 10% of wins?

NL Pennant = 500*250-10% = $112,500
WS Champs = 999*250-10% = $224,775
Total = $337,275

You know, they say gambling is a disease. But it's the only disease where you can make a lot of money. --Norm MacDonald

 

[miguelcabrera]

do you know what the odds were the day before the last game of the season to reach the world series? thats when i predicted they would make it but obviously put no money down.

 

[MacK]

Yeah, my brother in law's friend did something really similar, but I think it was near the end of September.