2015 Chicago Cubs: A Timeline of Betting Odds
The Cubs just clinched their first postseason series at home for the first time in their history and will now face the New York Mets in the NLCS. It’s also their first postseason series win since the 2003 NLDS and most baseball fans can recall how that year finished, with the Cubs blowing the NLCS to the Marlins in 7 games.
To bring in the really odd aspect of the 2015 Cubs, the movie “Back to the Future” depicted main character Marty McFly travelling to 2015 and hearing that the Cubs were 100:1 longshots to win the World Series, inspiring the purchase of the sports almanac. Even stranger, the movie had the Cubs beating a fictional, made-up Miami team to win the World Series. When the movie was made in 1985, it would have been hard to imagine even more suffering to Cubs fans, especially caused by a Miami-based team. However, if life imitates art, we may be fortunate enough to witness a Cubs World Series win in 2015.
Below we’ll take a look at a timeline of the Cubs’ betting odds since the conclusion of the 2014 World Series:
50:1 (October 28, 2014) Last October after the Giants beat the Royals in the World Series, the Cubs were 50:1 to win World Series at William Hill sportsbook in Las Vegas. Public bettors are often drawn to the Cubs to win the World Series and oddsmakers knew that Chicago had a strong, deep organization in terms of youth players so that price made sense.
12:1 (December 25, 2014) The Cubs hired Joe Maddon on November 3, 2014 and acquired ace SP Jon Lester on December 8th, 2014. This really helped solidify the Cubs as a legit contender and by Christmas day they were down to 12:1 at Bovada to win the World Series behind only the Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox and Nationals.
Here were the prices back on April 2, 2015 for the exact World Series matchup (via MyBookie):
MLB World Series matchup prices from the preseason Blue Jays-Mets 250:1 Royals-Mets 250:1 Blue Jays-Cubs 170:1 Royals-Cubs 170:1
— Sports Insights (@SportsInsights) October 16, 2015
16:1 (April 15, 2015) Just a couple weeks into the season the Cubs were leading the NL Central but fell to 16:1 to win the World Series.
14:1 (May 25, 2015) Cubs were still in the thick of things but were listed at just 14:1 in late May to win it all.
35:1 (July 4, 2015) On July 4th the Cubs were still in position for the second wild card but were available at 35:1 to win the NL Pennant at BetUS. From that point on, the Cubs went 54-29, best mark in MLB.
11:1 (October 3, 2015) Heading into the NL Wild Card game in Pittsburgh, the Cubs were +1100 to win the World Series at 5Dimes.
3:1 (October 15, 2015) With the Cubs now facing the Mets in the NLCS, Chicago is listed at just +310 to win the World Series at 5Dimes. With the influx of money that bettors place on Chicago yearly, sportsbooks don’t want to see the Cubs end their World Series drought as MGM Resorts has reported $1.5M liability on the Cubs this year. Here’s William Hill’s full reporting of remaining MLB futures:
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