With Major League Baseball’s Opening Day upon us, BetMGM released updated player prop bets Wednesday. The New York Mets, who open their season Thursday night at the Washington Nationals, are prominently displayed among three award categories.
The one problem for New York sports betting fans: You can’t bet on any of them.
Per New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) regulations, wagers can’t be placed on any awards in any sport in which voting takes place to determine the winner of that award.
For example, you can’t bet on who wins the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman announcement takes place in New York City.
Still, there is major interest in these three National League post-season awards, so let’s see what BetMGM New York thinks relating to the Mets.
The Mets earlier this week announced a partnership with Caesars Entertainment to make Caesars Sportsbook New York an official betting partner of the team.
National League Cy Young
Jacob deGrom was supposed to start the opener for the Mets. That honor will go to Tylor Megill. That’s because the Mets announced Thursday deGrom likely will be out until June with a stress reaction in his throwing shoulder he suffered toward the end of spring training. He was placed on the 10-day injured list (IL).
He won’t resume throwing for more than a month. He had opened the season at +350 to win the award. Those odds are up to +1200 as of Wednesday with 18% of tickets and 35.8% of handle.
Last season, deGrom missed the whole second half of the year after spraining his right throwing arm in early July. Before that, he posted a 7-2 record with a remarkable 1.08 earned run average and 0.55 WHIP and he struck out 146 batters.
Max Scherzer, deGrom’s new pitching mate and second in the rotation, also missed tonight’s opportunity to start with a right hamstring injury. He is scheduled to start Friday night’s game against the Nationals in a return to his former home, where he led them to a World Series title and won two of his three Cy Young awards.
Scherzer opened up the season at +700 to win the award and currently is at +600, with 7.1% of the tickets and 5.9% handle.
National League Most Valuable Player
The Mets have six candidates on the BetMGM odds board for the league’s most valuable player.
Leading the way is shortstop Francisco Lindor, who looks to rebound after a sub-par first season with the Mets. Lindor opened at +3000 and has dropped to +2000 with 3.9% of the tickets and 2.8% of the handle.
First baseman and home run hitter Pete Alonso opened the season at +4000 and has dropped to +3000, with 4.4% of the tickets and 6.7% of the handle.
Jacob deGrom had opened the season at +2000 and has skyrocketed up to +8000, today’s news not doing him any favors.
Scherzer opened the season at +4000 and remains there.
Newly acquired Starling Marte is now the everyday starting centerfielder for the Mets. He opened the season at +5000 and is currently at +6000. Last but not least, leftfielder Jeff McNeil, who can do a bit of everything, opened at +10000 and is currently at +15000.
EmpireStakes.com has all the latest updates on New York sports betting promo codes.
NL Rookie of the Year, Mets Series Odds
Third baseman Mark Vientos (started and currently at +10000 in NL Rookie of the Year odds) finished with a .281 batting average with 25 home runs in 83 games last year between Double-A and Triple-A minor league baseball stints. Vientos is a 2017 second-round pick.
The Mets head into the MLB betting season with the fourth-best odds to win the World Series in the estimation of BetMGM. The sportsbook has them listed Thursday at +1000, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers (+500), Toronto Blue Jays (+900) and Houston Astros (+1000).
