Last Night in Vegas: Future Bets on Pittsburgh Teams

The tri-annual trip to Las Vegas

is about to come to an end.  It’s a funny vibe in Vegas right now.  From what we’ve been told, the MGM City Center development – which includes the spacious Aria hotel – could be the last of construction in Vegas for a long time.

It’s actually amazing Aria even got done.  The same goes for Cosmopolitan, which is nothing short of spectacular.  If you go to Cosmopolitan, try finding their hidden pizza shop–nothing short of brilliant.  It has no signage and is a very cool idea in an over-hyped Vegas market.  We found it.   We loved it.

One of the first stops after we checked in was to head to the Book.  The Race and Sports Book at Aria was packed on Sunday and we, along with at least 50 others, were too late to grab a seat for the Steelers game.  It seems to us that it’s only a matter of time until the neighboring empty Blossom restaurant is removed to make room for sports lovers.  Sports addicts outweigh / out-spend tofu lovers.

When we got to the window, we were somewhat surprised to see our beloved Pittsburgh Pirates sitting at 22/1 to win the 2012 National League Championship. It’s where the team opened, and as of 28 November it has held the line.

Looking around the National League, the Washington Nationals opened at 25/1 and are now at 20/1. The Chicago Cubs opened at 10/1 and are now at 5/1 which is hilarious.  The only teams with higher odds to win the NL are the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros.

The odds of the Pirates winning the 2012 World Series are 50/1. The Nats opened at 60/1 and have improved to 40/1. The Royals are 50/1. The Blue Jays are 60/1. The Oakland A’s are 75/1 along with Seattle Mariners. The San Diego Padres are 100/1. The Baltimore Orioles are 150/1. The Houston Astros are the long-shots at 200/1.

The other two professional teams in Pittsburgh will win fans much less money should they win their respective championships. The Penguins are 5/1 to win the Stanley Cup. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 5/2 to win the AFC Championship. The odds pay the Steelers faithful 6/1 for another Super Bowl trophy.

We jumped on each of them, and as we passed the near-empty tofu place, tipped our cap at the guy wearing a Pirates hat.  Maybe it’s karma?