Bad beats: U.S. Open first-round leader bets, late baseball rallies highlight a week of bad beats in sports

Here's a look at a few bad beats from the last week in sports.

Published June 19, 2023, 11:10 a.m. ET

Any person who has ever placed a sports bet knows better than to count their money before the game goes final. Inevitably, it’s a lesson most people learn the hard way, sometimes in the form of a bad beat.

This week, bettors may have learned the hard way that a baseball game is never over until all 27 outs are made.

Here’s a look at a few bad beats from the previous week in sports.

Angels blow a big lead to Royals

The Angels were -167 favorites on the money line for a road game Saturday night in Kansas City, home of one of Major League Baseball’s worst teams.

Angels backers had to be feeling pretty good midway through the seventh inning. The Angels had an 8-2 lead and had a win probability of 98.5%, according to MLB numbers.

Then, the offensively-challenged Royals woke up. They scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score at 8-8.

The Angels responded with one run in the ninth on a Mike Trout RBI single. But the Royals weren’t done. They rallied for two runs in the ninth and walked off with a 10-9 win.

Take a look at the win probability chart:

Two MLB unders go down in the ninth on the same night in Texas

Wednesday night wasn’t a good night for bettors who took the under in two MLB games in Texas.

Let’s start in Arlington, where we meet our Angels again.

The over/under was nine runs, and the score was tied, 1-1, entering the seventh inning. That’s when the Rangers added three runs, before adding another two in the bottom of the eighth. So they carried a 6-1 lead into the top of the ninth inning. Start counting the money? Not so fast.

In steps Shohei Ohtani, with a runner on base. His 21st home run cut the Rangers’ lead to 6-3, the eventual final score, and provided a push for under bettors.

Down in Houston, a pitcher’s duel between Washington’s Josiah Gray and Framber Valdez of the Astros had a pregame total of 7 1/2 runs. And through eight innings, under bettors had to be happy. The Astros led, 4-1, and they have a solid closer in Ryan Pressly.

Things started to unravel when the leadoff man reached base on an Alex Bregman throwing error. A Corey Dickerson RBI double was later followed by a run-scoring fielder’s choice to cut the lead to 4-3, with the under still in play. But Dominic Smith’s triple tied the game at 4-4 and sent it to the bottom of the ninth.

Fittingly, the Astros won the game on an error.

U.S. Open first-round leader bets profit, but not in full

Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele put together record-setting first rounds at the U.S. Open Thursday in Los Angeles.

So imagine being a first-round leader (FRL) bettor for either golfer, having the player shoot a record low score and not getting the full value from the prop bet. Fowler and Schauffele each shot eight under (62) Thursday and tied for the lead heading into Friday’s second round.

Fowler, who went on to finish the tournament in a tie for fifth place, was 50/1 to be leading after the first round. Schauffele, who finished in a tie for 10th, was 30/1.

Most sportsbooks use a “dead heat” rule in these scenarios and split the payout by how many players are tied, in this case two players.

So a bettor who placed $10 on Fowler at 50/1 to be leading after the first round received a $250 payout instead of $500. And a bettor who placed $10 on Schauffele at 30/1 to be leading after the first round received a $150 payout instead of $300.

A profitable day, but it’s not often a player shoots a record low in the first round of a major and doesn’t have the outright lead.