BET SMART

At the end of a disastrous road trip, a tailspin through three cities, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put on a bold face and predicted to reporters Sunday that his team “no doubt” will finish on top of the National League West.

Roberts is right not to sing the blues, even if he’s wrong in the end. When the narrative turns negative, a leader’s job is to stay positive. Still, the truth is the Dodgers’ recent slump has created several doubts about the reigning World Series champions.

“I think the Dodgers are a big disappointment, not only because of the expectations but also because of the way they started the season,” said VSiN oddsmaker Vinny Magliulo, a veteran Las Vegas bookmaker.

There is also truth in clichés — it’s a long season, and it’s no time to panic — but more than a month into the baseball season the Dodgers and Yankees, the American League favorites, are each far from dominant and struggling to stay above .500.

Hold the Hollywood script on a Los Angeles-New York showdown in the World Series.

The Dodgers’ slide has been more costly to bettors who were riding a hot team out of the gate. The Dodgers opened the season 13-2 to spark memories of the 1984 Detroit Tigers, who started 9-0 and topped out at 35-5 after 40 games.

“When teams go on streaks, people love to play them every night,” DraftKings sportsbook director John Avello said. “We know how baseball gets bet. At first, people were betting the Dodgers during that hot start.”

On the recent trip through Milwaukee, Chicago and Anaheim, the Dodgers lost eight of 10. A 5-15 mark in their past 20 games has left the Dodgers at 18-17 and in third place in the division.

In last year’s pandemic-shortened season, the Dodgers finished 43-17 — a 71.7 winning percentage that would project to 116 wins in 162 games. Oddsmakers opened the Dodgers’ win total for this season at 104, a number they already seem unlikely to surpass.

“It could take 60 games before some teams get on track,” Magliulo said. “The expectation is the Dodgers will turn things around.”

The Dodgers must solve shortcomings in the bullpen but their top four starters — Clayton Kershaw, Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias — combine to rank among baseball’s best. The time to start a turnaround could be now as LA opens a nine-game homestand against Seattle, Miami and Arizona.

Meanwhile, the Giants (20-14) and Padres (19-16) lead the West. The Dodgers are 3-4 against San Diego and have yet to play San Francisco.

“I doubt the Giants can continue a season like this,” Avello said. “It will end up being a two-team race with the Dodgers and Padres.”

The Yankees, currently -125 favorites to win the AL East after opening -175 at BetMGM, did not expect to be chasing the Red Sox in the division race. Boston (22-13) is on pace to fly over its preseason win total of only 79. The Yankees, 18-16 after a 5-10 start, had a win total of 95.

“I think the Yankees have got a few issues, and the bats have not really started to come around yet,” Avello said. “But I would think when it’s all said and done, the Yankees will finish 20 games over .500. Are they good enough to win it all? I don’t know.”

Oddsmakers are well aware it’s a long season and it’s no time to panic, so the top two teams on BetMGM’s World Series odds board remain the Dodgers (+325) and Yankees (7/1).

“You don’t get too crazy,” Avello said. “You make some adjustments, but there’s no reason to move odds on many teams in the first 30 games of the year.”

Bob Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer facing criticism after his Kentucky Derby-winning horse tested positive for a banned substance, is invoking “cancel culture” amid an investigation.

Baffert made the media rounds Monday, the day after Medina Spirit’s win in the first leg of the Triple Crown had come under question. The horse tested positive for the steroid betamethasone and Baffert was suspended by Churchill Downs from entering horses at the track.

“It did not happen. That horse has never been treated with [betamethasone],” Baffert said on Fox News. “Actually, it’s a legal therapeutic medicine, and the amount that was in it wouldn’t have any effect on the horse anyway. But we don’t … That horse was never treated with that, and so that’s the disturbing part of it.

“I never thought I’d have to be fighting for my reputation and the poor horse’s reputation. Because of the new regulations the regulators have put, they’re testing these horses at contaminated levels, and it’s been a horrible experience.”

On “The Dan Patrick Show,” Baffert claimed that a groom urinated in the horse’s stall after he had been taking cough medicine and Medina Spirit ate some of the hay.

Medina Spirit arrived in Baltimore on Monday, although Baffert has yet to be told if Medina Spirit will be allowed to run in this Saturday’s Preakness Stakes by officials who want to review the facts. W. Craig Robertson III, Baffert’s lawyer, told the AP he is prepared to file for a temporary restraining order to keep Preakness officials from stopping Medina Spirit from running the race, if they decide to do so.

The post position draw will be held Tuesday after being pushed back a day amid the uncertain status of Medina Spirit.

A second drug test usually takes up to three weeks, and the original positive test is getting retested, so a decision on the Kentucky Derby may not happen right away. The drug in question is allowed under Kentucky racing rules, but only if it clears 14 days before a race in the state.

“Churchill Downs came out with that statement — that was pretty harsh,” Baffert said. “With all the noise … We live in a different world now. This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing, so they’re reviewing it. I haven’t been told anything. We’re prepared to run.”

Medina Spirit is the fifth Baffert horse in just over a year to fail a drug test. The steroid betamethasone that Medina Spirit tested positive for is the same drug that was found in the system of Gamine, the filly Baffert trained and which finished third in the Kentucky Oaks last September. It was disqualified, and Baffert was fined $1,500. He was also suspended by Oaklawn Park stewards for 15 days after a pair of positive drug tests involving two of his horses that tested positive for the painkiller lidocaine. Baffert, 68, said they were exposed inadvertently and he won an appeals case before the Arkansas Racing Commission.

Baffert isn’t planning to travel to Baltimore to avoid being a distraction. He hope his horse can still compete, though.

“I want him to run a good race because now everybody’s piling on him,” Baffert said. “It’s probably more pressure now that he’s got to run well.”