Caesar's Better Bettor: Cardinals were also a major disappointment to backers at betting windows

It has been a horrendous season for the Cardinals, who entered MLB’s final weekend of the season guaranteed of compiling their worst winning percentage since 1995 — and possibly much farther back. They already were assured of their first last-place finish in 33 years.

The path to that putrid performance has been paved by a lot of busts at the betting windows. To wit:

• The Cardinals were the preseason favorite to win the National League Central Division title, with the price at the three St. Louis-area walk-in sportsbooks being as stiff as -130 — at FanDuel (horse track in Collinsville). That means a bettor would have had to risk $130 to try to win $100. But those tickets could have been burned long ago.

• The consensus over/under on the number of games the Cardinals would win was 88½. The under has been a foregone conclusion for weeks, if not months. They limped into their season-concluding three-game series with Cincinnati with a paltry 69 victories — more than just four of the other 29 big-league teams.

• Two of those local betting shops had the Redbirds’ Jordan Walker as the preseason favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year honors, and he was the second pick at the other one. He was such a hot choice the return on him winning the award was as low as 3.6-1.

He has had a decent, but certainly not outstanding, first big-league season that includes a demotion to the minors for a while. His offensive production hasn’t come close to that of the almost-certain NL Rookie of the Year, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll.

Entering the season’s final weekend, Carroll was hitting .282 with 29 home runs, 90 RBIs, 54 stolen bases and an OPS of .865.

Walker was at .273, with 16 homers, 48 RBIs, seven steals and an OPS of .781.

Carroll’s preseason odds of capturing the honor was 4-1.

• On a side note, Barstool (Argosy Casino in Alton) offered this interesting preseason prop bet involving two Cardinals sluggers: Who will hit more home runs this season, Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado? The bettor had to risk $113 to try to win $100 on either player.

This one is coming down to the wire. Arenado entered the weekend leading, 26-25, but his season has been done for more than a week because of a back ailment. Goldschmidt was continuing to play. If they end in a tie, bets on both would be refunded.

St. Louisan Williams benefits from policy changeThe NFL announced Friday it is revising its stances on some gambling violations by players.

Any attempt to fix a game will result in a permanent ban, and wagering on any NFL contest will result in a suspension of at least a year — two if the contest involves that player’s game.

Also, the league relaxed its rules about players who bet on other sports while on team property, dropping suspensions from six games to two.

Directly impacted by that is Lions receiver Jameson Williams, who grew up in St. Louis and went to high school at Cardinal Ritter. He had been scheduled to be banished for two more games but now can return for Detroit’s next one — Oct. 8 against Carolina.

Back in business

City SC, the wildly successful St. Louis new entry in Major League Soccer, had been producing a windfall for those who were backing the team at the betting windows.

The team won its first five games, an unprecedented feat for an MLS expansion franchise, and still leads the Western Conference. Because some of those early wins were at long odds, those who had been wagering on the team via the three-way line — which includes the option of picking the match to end in a tie in addition to selecting either team to win — were really cashing in. They were so successful that at the high point folks who had bet $100 on City SC to win each of its MLS games via the three-way line would have been ahead by $1,470. That’s after the club beat Austin on Aug. 20.

But it won just one of its next six outings, and even though three of them were ties they count as losses on the three-way line.

However the team bounced back with a come-from-behind victory over Minnesota in its last match, with the most favorable odds (+280) among the local walk-in sportsbooks being at FanDuel.

That leaves City supporters now ahead by $1,366 provided they bet $100 on the most favorable three-way line available among the area books.

City SC is back in action Saturday, when it entertains Sporting Kansas City, and Barstool had the best price being offered as of Friday afternoon among the local parlors (+108).

We had a lousy run last week with our selections last week (0-3-1) and dropped seven units, leaving our record for the season at 3-7-1 and down eight units. Nonetheless, we’re back at it this week with picks that can range from one unit (•) to five (•••••). Odds listed are the most favorable among the local sportsbooks as of Friday afternoon:

Michigan State at Iowa, 6:30 p.m. Saturday: These teams like to play close-to-the-vest, defensive-heavy games and slug it out. The over-under on this one is as low as 36, the most miniscule total on the board among all college football games this weekend. These rivals have gone under that number in two of their last three meetings, and this year Michigan State has failed to crack double digits in its last two outings — and Iowa was shut out last week by Penn State. Look for more of the same here. Game total under 36½ (DraftKings, FanDuel) •••

Also: First half total under 17½ (all three books) ••

Louisiana State at Mississippi, 5 p.m. Saturday: Look for the home team to keep it close, with a good chance of winning, in what should be a shootout. Actionnetwork says Ole Miss is 28-14 (66.7%) against the spread against league foes that are ranked in the top 15 (LSU is rated 13th this week by The Associated Press). Mississippi +2½ (all three books) •••

Cardinals at 49ers, Arizona comes off its big upset victory over Dallas, as an 11½-point underdog, but that was at home and the scrappy Cardinals are on the road for this one against the powerful ’Niners. According to the KillerSports.com website, in the last 75 instances in which NFL teams have won as a ’dog of more than 11 points, those clubs are 24-49-2 against the spread in their next outing. The 49ers are laying a huge number here, two TDs, and we don’t usually like to jump on such big favorites. But we’ll make an exception here. 49ers -14 (all three books) •