Sports betting bad beats: Lionel Messi’s dramatic goal causes one of the worst

NFL training camps are opening, and soon enough, bad football beats will be returning to our collective sports weekends.

But for now, baseball, soccer, and the WNBA are dominating the sports calendar.

This week’s edition of bad beats from the last week in sports betting features a major moment from Lionel Messi in his MLS debut and a few pretty tough Major League Baseball beats.

Let’s take a look.

Bad beat: Phillies vs. Guardians, under 9 runs

So Sunday, with Aaron Nola on the mound, under nine runs seemed like a pretty decent play in the series finale.

For a good chunk of Sunday’s game, though, under bettors probably weren’t too confident. The teams combined for six runs through five innings, and the Phillies added another in the top of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead.

But that lead lasted all the way to the bottom of the ninth, and the Phillies brought in closer Craig Kimbrel, who was a perfect 16-for-16 in save attempts.

The Guardians led off with a bloop single that was quickly erased by a double play. Exhale, under bettors. This one is over.

Wrong.

Kimbrel threw a meaty 1-0 fastball over the heart of the plate to David Fry, who tied the game with a solo shot.

The Phillies eventually won in extra innings, but the damage to under nine bettors was done. A winning ticket that looked like a lock with two outs in the ninth was blasted into the Progressive Field seats.

Bad beat: Cruz Azul +.5 vs. Inter Miami (or draw +230)

So you wanted to be a contrarian.

Every casual bettor on earth was betting on Inter Miami and Lionel Messi to score a goal in his debut with his new MLS team.

You? You took Mexico City’s Cruz Azul +0.5 goals on the goal line in a Leagues Cup group stage opener. Or maybe you took a draw at +230.

For a while, both of those looked great. Deep into stoppage time even.

But, then, well, you know what happened.

Bad beat: Dodgers team total over 4.5 runs

Left-handed pitcher Martin Perez had not been pitching well for the Texas Rangers in his last two starts, and the Dodgers had started a three-game series with the Rangers by scoring 11 and 16 runs in the first two games.

Lock in that team total over 4.5 runs for the Dodgers Sunday, right?

Over bettors had to be feeling great after the Dodgers grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first inning on Max Muncy’s grand slam. They just needed one more run over the next eight innings.

Of course, they didn’t score again, and the Rangers won, 8-4.