Las Vegas sports book finishes strong on baseball win totals

Boston Red Sox's Mookie Betts, center, celebrates with teammates after defeating the New York Yankees in the final game of the regular baseball season in Boston, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr., center ;eft., William Cuevas, left, and Christian Vazquez, second from right, celebrate with teammates after the Red Sox clinched the AL East title with an 11-6 win over the New York Yankees in a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Houston Astros pitchers Dallas Keuchel, right, and Reymin Guduan celebrate in the locker room after a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018 in Toronto. The World Series champion Astros clinched another AL West title when Oakland lost in extra innings late Tuesday night. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seven baseball teams started the 2018 regular season with a win total of more than 90.

Four of those teams went over their total en route to the playoffs: the Astros (97.5, 103-59), Red Sox (91.5, 108-54), Yankees (94.5, 100-62) and Cubs, who finished 95-68 to scrape over their win total of 94.

The Westgate sports book lost money on the Yankees, but won close to six figures on baseball win totals overall.

“Obviously the NFL is king. I wouldn’t compare the handle to those win totals, but we definitely write a lot of money on it,” Westgate sports book manager Randy Blum said. “We did really well on those this year.”

The biggest decisions at the Westgate were on the Giants (79.5, 73-89), Royals (69.5, 58-104), Orioles (72, 47-115) and Twins (83.5, 78-84), who all went under their win totals.

“Our biggest decisions were the ones we shaded to be that way on purpose,” Blum said. “We were significantly lower than the market on the Giants, Royals and Orioles because we wanted to need those teams to go under.”

The Westgate didn’t shade the Twins, but still took a ton of action on the over.

“It was based on last year’s results and them making a big push in the second half and getting into the playoffs,” Blum said.

The bottom six teams in win totals all went under: Royals, Orioles, Marlins (64, 63-98), Tigers (67, 64-98), White Sox (72.5, 62-100) and Padres (72.5, 66-96).

World Series odds

The Red Sox are the 3-1 favorites at William Hill sports book to win the World Series, and the Astros are the 7-2 second choice to repeat as champions. The Dodgers are 5-1, the Yankees and Brewers 8-1, Indians and Cubs 9-1, Braves 12-1 and Rockies and A’s 15-1.

“Our biggest liability is on the Yankees, but that’s only slightly more than five figures,” Blum said. “We do really well on all the National League teams. It’s just wide open.”

The Westgate has posted an early line on the World Series. The American League is a minus 220 favorite over the NL (plus 180).

“The Astros and Red Sox have clearly been the two best teams throughout the season,” Blum said. “The Astros, in my opinion, still might be the better team. There was a month where they were missing all their core guys.

“If the Astros and Red Sox played in the ALCS, we’re not ruling out the Astros being favored in that, even without home-field advantage.”

Cokin wins RJ challenge

Handicapper Dave Cokin, an ESPN 1100 radio host, won the Review-Journal baseball season wins challenge on a tiebreaker over this reporter. Both contestants went 5-2, but Cokin had 281 combined wins for the Cubs, Dodgers and Yankees to win the tiebreaker. (I had 278, and the total was 287.)

Cokin’s winners were overs on the Yankees, Cardinals (85.5) and Mariners (80.5) and unders on the White Sox and Rangers (75.5). His losers were unders on the Rockies (82.5) and Rays (74.5).

My winners were unders on the Rangers, Royals, Tigers and Marlins and over on the Brewers (83.5). My losers were over on the Nationals (93.5) and under on the Pirates (73.5).

Professional sports bettor Frank Carulli went 4-3, handicapper Micah Roberts (Sportsline.com) finished 3-4, and Blum went 2-5.

Cokin’s a lifelong Red Sox fan from Rhode Island but doesn’t like Boston’s chances to win it all.

“I’ll root for the Red Sox, but I don’t know if they’re going to get there. I suspect the Yankees will beat them,” said Cokin (SmokinCokin.com). “I don’t know if Chris Sale’s healthy, and their bullpen is horrible. You’ve got to have a bullpen in the playoffs, and they don’t have a reliable bullpen at all.

“They’re going to have to outscore whoever they play, and they might be able to do it. But if they get shut down by somebody, they’re not going to win that game.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.