2007 Cubs/Sox Bets
By Mike | March 29, 2007
Many of friends are Sox fans. This leads to the inevitable bickering back and forth about whose team is better and yadda yadda yadda. We usually end up making a wager or two, or three on the team’s performance. These last few years have been costly in that regard.
The hosts of the local afternoon sports talk show also make an annual series of Cubs/Sox bets. They have 9 wagers, and the best of 5 wins a cook out for fans of their team. We usually just go $5 a piece and call it a day. It doesn’t sound like much but when the Cubs lose 8/9 and you make the same bet with five or six people, it isn’t exactly cheap.
Before I get to those bets, there are a few others that I made with a friend of mine as we were too impatient for Mac, Jurko and Harry to finalize theirs.
First off I bet that Kerry Wood and Mark Prior would combine for 18 wins. I made this at the very start of spring training when all reports were that both were throwing well and were injury free. I figured Prior as a starter was good for 12-14 wins and Wood as a reliever could pick up the other 4-6. Now I’d be happy if they combined for 18 appearances. I tried to buy out of the bet a week ago, but he wouldn’t let me.
The other bet we made is a clinch a playoff spot first bet. It works just like it sounds. First team to clinch a playoff berth wins. I have to think the Cubs are favored here. Most people consider them to have the weakest division, plus even if the Sox do make the playoffs, it will likely come down to the last few games, as there are many potential playoff teams in their division.
So what do Mac Jurko and Harry have in store for us this year?
- Most Home Runs Dye and Thome vs. Soriano and Ramirez. - I didn’t get to here the deliberation for this bet, but usually each side gets to pick their own home run hitters. I’m surprised they didn’t go with Derek Lee. Maybe they are concerned about his injury as that pretty much destroyed the Cubs side of the betting last year. Last years numbers have the Sox winning one 86-84, but I like my chances anyway
- Most Wins Buehrle and Garland vs. Zambrano and Hill - I would have gone with Z and Lilly since Hill is rather unproven, and could be back in the minors a month into the season for all we know. Sitll Zambrano will have at least 2 more wins than either of the Sox pitchers so I have a chance.
- Konerko vs. Soriano Konerko Home Runs vs. Soriano stolen bases. Soriano won last year 41-35. If he wins again this year I would say it bodes well for the Cubs chances.
- Fewest Home Runs AllowedSox Pitchers vs. Cubs Pitchers - Interesting one. I have no idea what I should expect out of this and I don’t feel like looking up last year’s stats right now. The Sox pitchers should theoretically give up more homers since they have one more batter to pitch to, but I don’t know how much of a difference that will make
- Fewest Errors - Sox vs Cubs(-10) - Don’t like the Cubs chances for this one even spotting them 10.
- Bullpen Stats (Best of Three) Saves/Blown Saves/ERA Every Cubs fan’s nightmare. Putting money on the Cub’s closers not to blow games.
- Head to Head (tiebreaker is total runs scored In the past if the Sox didn’t win this straight up, they would win the tie-breaker since they had a much better offensive team. This will finally be the Cubs year.
- Fewest Ejections (tiebreaker is team record in those games) - I don’t know how many times each manager got ejected last year, but both are known for their tempers. This is one of the more amusing bets I’ve seen.
- Total Wins Sox (-4.5) vs. Cubs - I would have taken this one straight up.
So there it is. Hopefully I can at least come out close to ahead for the year.
Topics: Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Gambling |
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