AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
San Francisco Giants’ Michael Morse celebrates a home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the eighth inning of Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, in San Francisco.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017 | 11:47 a.m.
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We’ve entered the third season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.
Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won the 2015-2016 season, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015. Bern stepped away in the middle of the 2016-2017 season with a 16-12 record and $13,317 bankroll, with Mike Grimala taking his place.
San Francisco Giants minus-117 vs. Kansas City Royals: $1,170 to win $1,000
I don’t like this play as much as the bet sizing may indicate. It’s just that we’re getting down in the final stages of the Play of the Day, and it’s time to take some shots, regardless of what’s on the board.
Both these teams have fallen a long way from three years ago when they met in the World Series. The consensus is the Royals have a better chance to get back in the running this season.
And while that may be accurate because they play in a weaker division, it doesn’t have much to do with the quality of the roster. The Giants are every bit as talented as the Royals and could lay a bigger price at AT&T Park.
They’ve dropped from a minus-125 favorite in this series opener, a line move that smacks of recency bias. The Royals are on a two-game winning streak, and took four of six games total in the last week, despite facing the best team in the majors in the Astros.
The Giants, meanwhile, went 2-4. Tonight’s starter for the Royals, Jason Vargas, also stymied them when they met earlier in the season.
None of that is significant enough evidence, however, to overshadow that the Giants have a better chance at a victory tonight than the betting market is giving them.
Current Standings: Grimala (11-15, $8,783), Granger (18-23-1, $7,873), Keefer (45-41-3, $7,795), Brewer (33-32-2, $7,735)
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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