Another term for sports betting is real money gambling. Cash is at stake in a win or lose scenario. Most recreational sports bettors are content with throwing $20 on that night’s big game on US sports betting.
Serious bettors might up the stakes to $2000 on a two-team parlay. Only a high roller with a huge betting bankroll would risk losing $200,000 wagering on a daily MLB total line.
Yahoo Sports relayed the story of one such high roller and their highly improbable winning play. The total line bet was placed through the online betting site BetMGM.
The stake was $200,000 that the total runs scored in that night’s Texas Rangers at San Diego Padres game would go OVER 7 ½ at standard -110 odds.
Elisa Richardson is the head of communication and public relations for BetMGM. She confirmed that the bet had been placed on the game. It took place on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
The Padres took a slim 2-1 lead into the ninth inning. Under most circumstances, the book would be counting that bet as a nice win. The bettor would probably see it as a stupid play. But as they always say, it is not over until the fat lady sings as an old opera reference.
The Rangers were able to tie the game at two in the top of the inning to keep the game alive. Joey Gallo led things off with a home run. A key factor in this turn of events was an injury to San Diego’s closer Drew Pomeranz. It remains doubtful he would have given up a homer in that situation. In his place, Matt Strahm was on the mound. He has yet to post a MLB save.
San Diego failed to get anything going in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. The new MLB rule for overtime puts a runner at second to start the 10th inning. The Rangers managed to add one more run in that inning to raise the total score to five.
The Padres needed to respond with a tying run to force another inning. To take this bet OVER the 7.5 total, they would need to score at least three runs. They started the bottom of the 10th with a sacrifice bunt to move the runner on second to third.
This is when things really started to get interesting. The pitcher on the mound for the Rangers proceeded to walk Trent Grisham and Fernando Tatis Jr. to load the bases. Next up was Manny Machado.
A routine single would likely win the game for San Diego with two runs scored. The high roller needed three runs run to cash in on the six-figure bet.
The odds suddenly moved in the bettor’s favor. Machado had made 83 previous career appearances at the plate with the bases loaded. He was able to produce a grand slam 10 times, which is pretty impressive.
Even more impressive was the $181,000 that bettor collected when Manny posted his 11th career grand slam in his 84th try.
