Angels links: Gambling on opening day, Mark Langston’s no-hitter, Charles Barkley

The original opening day was scheduled to have happened this Thursday, but that’s been postponed. The only question is just when the season might start.

When in doubt, check with the gambling oddsmakers. The folks at BetOnline have a series of wagers for when we might see opening day:

A note on the odds — +275 means if you bet $100, a successful bet wins $275; -450 means you need to bet $450 to win $100. So, the odds of MLB resuming by June 1 are overwhelmingly in favor of no, which makes sense. Major League Baseball has already tentatively pushed back opening day to the second week of May, obliging with CDC guidelines. Given the down time of players and specifically pitchers who have gone home, any sort of resumption of baseball will almost certainly require an extended spring training to properly prepare for the season, which puts June 1 something of a best case scenario.

July 1 seems to be near the equilibrium at this point, but there are still so many unknowns. A successful yes bet on opening day by July 1 pays even money, essentially a 50/50 choice. No is still the slight favorite, needing to bet $140 to win $100.

They aren’t quite on the same scale, but given the report Monday that the IOC will postpone the Summer Olympics, which were scheduled to start July 24, it’s not at all out of the question that we might not see baseball return until some time around then, or even after.

Links

• A shortened season could mean pitchers might not be ready to last deep into games in the early going. A similar thing happened in 1990, when the players were locked out of spring training in a labor dispute until March 19. The shortened spring took its toll on pitchers, including Mark Langston, newly signed to the Angels. Langston was removed after seven innings despite pitching a no-hitter in his first Halos start, on April 11. “There’s no way I could have made two more innings,” Langston recalled this weekend to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times. “I didn’t have the base underneath me to do that.”
• Mike Witt pitched the final two innings after Langston exited, completing the eighth no-hitter in Angels history, and the first combined no-no for the franchise.
• Charles Barkley, who visited Angels camp on March 2, tested negative for coronavirus. He has been self quarantined since March 12. “I’d like to thank everyone for reaching out and expressing your concern and support,” Barkley said in a statement through Turner Sports. “You all be safe and please take the necessary actions to help ensure your well-being.”