The 2023 World Series matchup between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks is an unlikely one to most of the sports viewing and legal sports betting audience. But not to Brad Feinberg.
The sports bettor and Philadelphia native is holding a World Series exacta ticket that has the Rangers winning the World Series over the Diamondbacks. He placed the $200 wager at Caesars at +4,0000 odds back on June 10 and stands to win $80,000 if that exact scenario plays out.
Appreciate the recognition from @CaesarsSports ... BIG day for our @Dbacks & @Rangers future 👏🏻👏🏻💵 ⚾️💵👏🏻👏🏻 #mlb #WorldSeries2023 #sportsbet #sportsbettingtwitter #sportsbettor #sportsbets #bradsbestbets https://t.co/bM1Wg9bsQN pic.twitter.com/QnfoPambCF
— Brad Feinberg (@Bradsbestbets) October 24, 2023
It’s safe to say Feinberg is one of very few who envisioned this possibility. After all, the Rangers are just two seasons removed from a 102-loss campaign. The D-backs also lost 110 games during that same 2021 season.
“It was the only one I made, too,” he said of his exacta in an interview with Covers this week.
Feinberg, 52, is a pro sports betting analyst for NBC Sports Philadelphia. He said he was checking MLB futures odds in early June when he believed he’d spotted a favorable price. The Rangers were leading their division and had the second-best record in the American League. Yet, their odds of winning the pennant were about four times longer than that of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Diamondbacks were 2.5 games up on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West at the time and trailed the Atlanta Braves by one game in the NL standings.
Feinberg had placed a number of futures bets on the D-backs to win the pennant on June 2, back when they were tied for the best record in the NL.
“Those were my two biggest futures, those two teams to win the pennant,” he said.
Those bets have since hit.
🚨💵🚨 ANOTHER WINNING TICKET I BET 🚨💵🚨 pic.twitter.com/PkRdxCL81U
— Brad Feinberg (@Bradsbestbets) October 25, 2023
Then came the exacta bet a week later.
“The math on it at the time was decent,” Feinberg said. “I was looking to take something where I thought that the odds were much higher than they should have been due to the randomness of the sport as much as anything else.”
It’s not rare for the teams with the best regular-season records to fall well short of the World Series. That scenario played out again this year when the 104-win Braves, 100-win Dodgers, 101-win Baltimore Orioles, and 99-win Rays all failed to even reach the Championship Series.
“I know the baseball playoffs are the most random of all the outcomes, where it doesn’t make a difference if you’re the best team,” Feinberg said. “I know in a best of seven, I can take these, quote, unquote, inferior teams like Texas and Arizona … because over seven games, the best team quite often doesn’t win.”
And now the five-seed Rangers face the six-seed Diamondbacks in a World Series that kicks off Friday night at Globe Life Field in Texas.
Longest long shot
This exact matchup was +17,5000 at BetMGM before the season began. According to the online sports betting site, it’s the longest odds of any World Series matchup in the last five years.
"I didn't even know I had the bet. I had forgotten about it and I was looking at my pending futures on Arizona to win the pennant ... I saw this ticket in there and I'm like, 'Holy s---. This thing has a chance."
- Brad Feinberg on his World Series exacta ticket
Feinberg targeted this matchup when both were in contention in June and has been rewarded. He believed the AL was wide open at the time and that Texas had the best lineup. The NL was much trickier, but as his Arizona futures would suggest, he was a believer in the young Diamondbacks and their top-heavy rotation.
“Based on the odds of which teams I thought were going to make the playoffs, to me it was a worthwhile risk,” he said.
He placed his World Series exacta and put the ticket in his proverbial pocket.
“I thought I was probably making a $200 donation,” he said.
Months later, both clubs snuck into the playoffs with wild-card spots. The Rangers swept the Rays in the first round then defeated the one-seed Orioles three games to none in the ALDS. The Diamondbacks swept the Milwaukee Brewers in their wild-card series and did the same to the heavily favored Dodgers in the NLDS.
“I didn’t even know I had the bet. I had forgotten about it and I was looking at my pending futures on Arizona to win the pennant … I saw this ticket in there and I’m like, ‘Holy s---. This thing has a chance,’” Feinberg recalled.
Root, root, root against the home team
The Rangers faced the rival Houston Astros in the ALCS and the Diamondbacks played his hometown team, the Philadelphia Phillies, in the NLCS.
Not only does Feinberg work for NBC Sports Philadelphia, but he does a pregame show on the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles as well. He was a Phillies fan growing up and looks at the 2011 team with great reverence.
“I thought that was the best team I’ve seen in my lifetime,” he said. “The Phillies had Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay. No team had pitching like them. They were, by a trillion, the best team in baseball. No team was remotely close.”
The 2011 Phils had the best record in baseball at 102-60. Yet, they lost in the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games.
“Chris Carpenter beat Roy Halladay in Game 5, 1-0. Those things happen in baseball,” Feinberg recalled.
It’s an example of why he bets on unlikely scenarios in baseball, ones that had him betting against his beloved Phillies.
“I’m not proud of this, but it’s just the way that it is. I used to be the most diehard Philadelphia fan of every sport. But now … now I bet who I think is going to win. I root for who is going to help me and my family,” he said.
He was rooting for his Rangers-Diamondbacks exacta and though both teams found themselves in 3-2 series holes, they won their next two games on the road to clinch a spot in the World Series and keep Feinberg’s ticket alive.
To hedge or not to hedge
It also provided him an opportunity to hedge on his World Series exacta. When Arizona won the pennant, Feinberg says he locked in a bet on the Diamondbacks to win the World Series at +167 — one that will pay out at $50,000.
Now, Feinberg can enjoy a stress-free World Series that will net him either a $50,000 winning ticket or a $80,000 winner.
“I don’t need to be a hero,” he explained. “Most people don’t understand it. ‘Why don’t you just let it ride?’ By letting it ride, you actually are gambling. Because, it says my portfolio, it’s worth $50,000.
“I just don’t need to guess who’s going to win. Again, it’s random. I’m holding true to my convictions. I know Texas is better, but does that mean they win this series five out of eight times? Maybe, maybe not. I just don’t need to gamble with it.”
Feinberg will be a winner either way. He’ll either cash his $200 futures bet for $80,000 or his $30,000 hedge will bring in a $50,000 winner.
He’s no longer sweating the outcome of this most unlikely World Series. And he’s already got the winnings earmarked for something even bigger.
“I’m getting married, so I’ll probably put it towards the wedding,” he said. “It’ll go to something good.”
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