Circa to pay out massive parlays if Dodgers or Yankees win World Series

Circa Sports has been sweating two massive parlay payouts since the Thunder won the NBA championship in June.

One bettor placed a two-leg futures parlay on Oklahoma City to win the NBA title and the Dodgers to win the World Series, while another bet on the Thunder and Yankees to win it all.

“So that’s giving us a pretty big negative number on both the Dodgers and the Yankees right now,” Circa sportsbook director Chris Bennett said. “We would lose a pretty big chunk to either the Yankees or the Dodgers. I don’t want to give an exact amount, but it’s well into six figures.

“The fact that neither of those teams got a bye is kind of helping us manage those positions.”

The Dodgers and Yankees are favored to win their best-of-3 wild-card playoff series, which start Tuesday.

Los Angeles, which won the National League West with a 93-69 record but stayed way under its season win total of 104½, is the biggest series favorite, at -285, over the Reds (+240).

New York, which lost the American League East title to the Blue Jays on a tiebreaker, is a -185 favorite over the rival Red Sox (+160).

In the other series, the Cubs are -115 favorites over the Padres (-105), and the Tigers are -120 favorites over the Guardians (Even).

Bookmaker ‘tired’ of rivalry

While Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said the Yankees-Red Sox matchup is “as good as it gets,” Bennett begs to differ.

“I would like to point out that Yankees-Red Sox is my least favorite matchup in all of baseball,” he said. “I’m just tired of hearing about it. … It’s not any more intriguing to me than any other matchup. I’d prefer if those teams didn’t even make the playoffs. I don’t think it’s special. But apparently other people do.”

New York, with starting pitcher Max Fried, is a -130 favorite in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. Boston, with starter Garrett Crochet, is +117.

Playoffs ‘wide open’

The Dodgers remain the +425 favorites at Circa to win the World Series, followed by the Mariners (+450), Phillies (+550), Blue Jays (7-1), Brewers (7-1) and Yankees (8-1).

“The Dodgers look pretty tough on paper,” Bennett said. “They do have the best team, even though they didn’t end up with the best record and get a bye.

“They got a tougher road than they probably wanted, but their starting pitching sure looks good and their lineup is mostly healthy.”

Philadelphia is the World Series favorite at BetMGM, Caesars and STN Sports, while Seattle is the +450 favorite over the Dodgers (5-1) and Phillies (+550) at the SuperBook.

“I just feel the playoffs are wide open,” Westgate MLB oddsmaker Randy Blum said. “The Dodgers were supposed to be this juggernaut, but they haven’t lived up to the hype, at least in the regular season. The Mariners have the easier path.”

Seattle will play the Tigers-Guardians winner, while Toronto gets the winner of Red Sox-Yankees.

“I still think the Dodgers, on paper, are considered the best team,” Blum said. “But assuming they beat the Reds — which is no lock; it’s baseball — then they have to play the divisional round on the road at Philadelphia. It’s a harder path.”

Guardians of the history

The Guardians won the AL Central title over the Tigers in record-setting fashion, overcoming the biggest deficit in MLB history. Cleveland trailed Detroit by 15½ games July 9.

The Guardians were 300-1 division long shots at Circa on July 7 and 285-1 on Aug. 26, though Bennett said the book didn’t take any notable bets at those numbers.

“They were offered at long odds for many, many different days, and nobody was interested for the most part,” he said.

Cleveland winning the division was a great result for the SuperBook, which was on the hook for six figures on one wager alone on the Tigers to win the AL Central.

“We certainly dodged a bullet with Cleveland winning the Central. That was a miracle for us,” Murray said. “We had some big bets on the Tigers in the preseason. That helped us.”

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