Bad Losses and Lucky Wins – Get over them!

In Sports Betting, It Goes Both Ways

It’s hard for me not shake my head at times when reviewing write-ups and the number of people who use the term “bad losses” as an excuses for a bad day, week , month or year. It is absolutely true that bad losses happen but it is just as true that you will have as many, if not more, lucky wins then bad losses. Start keeping track and you will see what I mean. I have had few games this recently that could be considered bad losses or lucky wins and the Philadelphia game my point to perfection. We played Philadelphia on the Run Line -1 ½ run over the Washington Nationals and depending who you were on, you could have had a bad loss and a lucky win on the same team, almost.  Philadelphia had a 2 run lead going into the top of 9th inning and all we needed was 3 more outs to secure a run line win. Washington went on to score 3 runs and to take a 5 – 4 lead.  Ask yourself this, at this point how many people were saying “bad loss”? A 2 runs lead into the top of the 9th? After all Philadelphia has been ahead the entire game.  How many Washington backers were saying lucky win?

Turn to the bottom of the 9th inning with Washington’s best closer on the mound and he retired the first two batters.  Rollins came up and hit a long fly ball to center that should have been caught, game over. But Church and Langerhans missed the ball and Rollins tripled and then went home to tie the game when Washington missed the cut off man. Now ask yourself how many Washington backers are crying “bad loss”?  Now remember we were on the run line and Philadelphia had to win by 2 to cover and low and behold a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 14th inning!  We cover! lucky win? Now wait a minute we just had a bad loss in the top of the 9th and now we claim lucky win?

The Big Difference

What is a bad loss? How about a selection we made last week when we took the Dodgers over the NY Mets and Glavine. We all know how Glavine struggles on the road and we had a pitcher that dominates at home. Lowe came into this game with an ERA of just over 2 in his home starts this year. In the first inning he gave up 6 runs, more then double his average for a full game. Was this a bad loss?  I mean Glavine got knocked out after a couple innings allowing 6 runs himself.  What if Lowe did not give up those first six runs and lead going into the 9th inning with a score of 6 – 9 (that’s what the score would have been) and then gave up the 6 runs in the top of the 9th making the score 13 – 9? We all would have cried “bad loss”.

The biggest difference in bad losses and lucky wins is this: bad losses happen when you are losing more then you are winning and lucky wins happen when you’re winning. How many times have you played a total in basketball to have it swept away by fouls, missed free throws, or a 3-pointer at the buzzer that has no effect on the outcome of the game itself?  When your winning you not focused on the why you are winning. But go on a little losing streak and a have few ace pitchers blow a start or have your team give up runs in the 9th inning and now all of sudden you have something everyone likes to call “bad losses”. There is no question bad losses happen all the time but I am willing to bet that you have just as many lucky wins. The fact is that earlier in the game your team could have pushed across one more run or had an error that you did not even think twice about or ever will but if that error did not happen or that run did get pushed across your bad loss would have never happened.

Get Over It

Here is some friendly advice, never get to high and never get to low.  You have to put your losses behind you as soon as they happen. It does not matter if it was a bad loss.  In the end a loss is a loss and moving onto your next winner is what is important. Bad losses Happen, Get Over It and pick you next winner!