The MLB’s Most Profitable Team To Bet So Far This Year Is A Last Place Club With A Losing Record

The MLB’s most profitable team to bet through the first half of the season may surprise you. It comes in the form of a last place team with a losing record.

That team is the Baltimore Orioles.

The O’s are currently 43-44 on the season, sitting in the cellar of the AL East standings. They’re currently 18.5 games behind the first-place Yankees and are the only team in the division with a losing mark.

Still, they’ve picked up some steam of late. Baltimore is on an eight-game winning streak, having swept through each of their last two series. The recent streak makes them the hottest team in baseball, and it’s helped Baltimore backers cash in in a major way.

A $100 bettor would be up around $1,400 had they taken the O’s on the money line each game this year.

Since mid-May, that number is even higher.

This comes despite the Orioles having a losing record. How??

How the Orioles became the most profitable team to bet in the MLB

Baltimore wasn’t expected to do much when the season began. They have the seventh-youngest roster in the majors competing in the toughest division in baseball.

Not surprisingly, they’ve entered as underdogs in a majority of their contests.

So, while they might not be winning every game, when they do land a victory, the reward is typically much greater. And since they sit right around .500, the losses haven’t necessarily hurt the profitability.

For example, say the O’s play a series with the Red Sox. Baltimore might enter each contest (give or take) around +180 on the money line. You drop $100 on each game.

Even if the Orioles lose two of three, you’re only out $20 bucks ($200 lost, $180 gained). If they win two of three, you’re up big at $260. And if they pull the sweep, like they have in each of their last two series, you’d be up $540.

It’s kind of like how the South Carolina Gamecocks, not Alabama or Georgia, were the most profitable money line team in SEC football last year. A few big wins can outweigh the expected losses.

The Orioles will hope to ride this momentum into a successful second half of the season. They could be a team to keep an eye on at the sportsbooks.