Mass. Sports Betting: One Wager We’re Making For Each Boston Team

Friday marked a new day for sports betting in Massachusetts.

Sports betting has been legal in the Bay State for a short while now, but the wagering options just increased in a big way with the launch of mobile sports betting.

Massachusetts sports fans can now sign up for accounts, deposit their hard-earned money and bet on sports from the comfort of their home — legally.

To celebrate, we dug through some of the available betting options to pinpoint one bet we’d be willing to make for each of the four teams in Boston.

BRUINS
Win the Stanley Cup (+400, DraftKings Sportsbook)
The Bruins have been so good they have essentially eliminated opportunities for betting value. Theoretically, you could make a massive bet and lay the ridiculous -6000 to win the Presidents’ Trophy, or back Linus Ullmark at a slightly less comical -900 to win the Vezina Trophy. Ultimately, let’s chase the Cup number at the lowest you’ll probably see it until the playoffs begin. The +250 to win the Eastern Conference was a consideration, but the East is such a minefield. If you think a team can survive that gauntlet, you might as well get a little more value with the championship ticket and reassess if you get to that point.

RED SOX
Masataka Yoshida to win AL Rookie of the Year (+700, Caesars Sportsbook)
Gunnar Henderson is the clear-cut favorite, as he should be. The Orioles shortstop is the No. 1 prospect in baseball and alongside Adley Rutschman, the future of this franchise. Prospects don’t always hit the ground running, though. Henderson handled himself well in a 34-game taste last season, but giving pitchers a full-time chance to adjust could mean some early struggles. Of course, you could say the same thing about Yoshida coming over from Japan. Yoshida largely has proven himself against better competition to this point, though. He has remarkable plate discipline that should allow him to avoid prolonged slumps. He also should benefit from hitting at or near the top of a lineup that could feature Rafael Devers, Justin Turner and Adam Duvall.

PATRIOTS
New England to score one-plus touchdown in every regular-season game (+195, FanDuel Sportsbook)
Kind of annoying to have money tied up until next January, but this feels like great value. The Patriots, despite their general offensive incompetence at times in 2022, did score a touchdown in every 2022 game. Some of those scores came on defense or special teams, but there’s nothing here that says these need to be offensive scores. Even if it had to come on offense, it would still be tempting. There might not be a greater upgrade at any position — on or off the field — this offseason than the Patriots bringing in Bill O’Brien to replace Matt Patricia as their offensive play caller. New England knows the offense wasn’t good enough, and there will be upgrades this offseason that will make “Yes” on this look even better by September.

CELTICS
Jayson Tatum to win MVP (+3600, FanDuel)
Similar to the Bruins, it’s hard to find good value anywhere with the Celtics this late in the season. Given the recent downturn, do you really want them as short as 3-1 to win it all? Of course, you could ask a similar question about a 30-1 MVP bet in March. However, what if Tatum goes on an absurd run down the stretch and wills the Celtics back into the Eastern Conference’s first seed? If Tatum were to do something wild, like average 40 points per game, sparking a late-season run, is that enough to get him past Nikola Jocic (-380), Joel Embiid (+425) and Giannis Antetokounpmo? Probably not, but again, there’s no real interest in taking a bite out of the team futures given the recent uncertainty about this team’s ability to win it all. One tempting bet we did consider: You could parlay both the Bruins and Celtics to win their respective championships at 19-1.