Dodgers, Yankees title favs; books wary of Tigers
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David Purdum, ESPN Staff Writer
After an upset-filled wild-card round, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees open their postseasons Saturday as the top betting favorites to win the World Series.
Some sportsbooks have the Dodgers listed as World Series favorites; others have the Yankees. Both are favorites in their divisional round series. The Dodgers are around -135 favorites over the San Diego Padres, and the Yankees are -210 favorites over the Kansas City Royals.
Bookmakers, however, are more concerned about the upstart Detroit Tigers, who in a month have gone from long shots to a liability for sportsbooks. The Tigers, who could be found at 500-1 to win the World Series in early September, are now around 10-1 and have been attracting increased interest from bettors — especially in Michigan.
DraftKings and BetMGM both said the Tigers have attracted greater than 50% of all World Series bets placed with their sportsbooks in Michigan since Sept. 1. That’s upward of 10 times more than any other team left in the playoffs. Caesars Sportsbook took a $200 bet on the Tigers to win the World Series at 500-1 from a Michigan customer in late August, according to the company’s lead baseball trader Eric Biggio.
The Tigers are drawing betting support outside of Michigan, too.
“In the past week or so, the Tigers have jumped ahead of both the Royals and Padres in terms of liability,” Halvor Egeland, who oversees baseball odds for BetMGM, told ESPN. “They’re now our worst result for the World Series and the worst to win the either pennant as well.”
Three of the top five preseason betting favorites to win the World Series-the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles — were eliminated in the wild-card round, with the Tigers, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals advancing as underdogs.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and safety DeShon Elliott have agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million extension with $9.21 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Elliott, 28, was one of the Steelers’ best run defenders last year with 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 4 tackles for loss and 108 combined tackles.
NFL Network first reported the deal.
A former sixth-round pick, Elliott spent his first four seasons in the league with the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions before joining the Miami Dolphins for one year.
The Steelers signed Elliott as a free agent to a two-year deal before the 2024 season.
He has 395 tackles in 72 career games.
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Tisha Thompson
Ippei Mizuhara, the disgraced former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is in federal prison in Pennsylvania, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told ESPN on Monday.
Mizuhara, 40, was ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Monday. He is in custody at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood Low, a low-security facility, after being sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani.
Mizuhara was initially ordered to report to prison in March, but a federal judge granted the delay. The reasons for the delay remain under seal.
Mizuhara’s attorney declined ESPN’s request for comment, but previously stated that he expects Mizuhara, a Japanese citizen, to eventually be deported.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara in March 2024 after an ESPN investigation revealed he sent millions in wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to an illegal bookmaker. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return in June 2024, admitting that he placed about 19,000 bets with the bookie over a two-year period and accumulated over $40 million in debt.
The bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, pleaded guilty in August to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and subscribing a false tax return. He is awaiting sentencing.
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