they are the ones receiving the backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\nMany of those who replied \u201cno\u201d said that was only because they removed the direct line of communication to the bettors. Some avoid social media. Some ignore their DMs.<\/p>\n
Others have taken the initiative to prevent such interactions. An NL hitter said he triggered an Instagram setting that prohibits people from messaging him unless he starts the conversation. An NL pitcher has certain betting-related words filtered from his messages.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not foolproof, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your social media is private,\u201d said an NL pitcher, \u201cthey\u2019ll find your family members.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get used to it,\u201d said an AL pitcher, \u201cbut when they start talking about your family, that\u2019s taking it too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the reasons I got off social media,\u201d another AL pitcher said. \u201cSome of it goes way over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
One catcher quipped he doesn\u2019t play enough to warrant any betting action or blame. The majority of players surveyed, however, have experienced these sorts of encounters.<\/p>\n
Some say they can\u2019t decipher whether the antagonist is upset about the final score, the player\u2019s performance or, simply, their bank account. One NL position player said he hasn\u2019t been confronted about a gambling loss, but rather, \u201cThey tell me I suck.\u201d An AL pitcher said he refuses to pay close enough attention to determine the root of each gripe.<\/p>\n
For many, though, this is a new way of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should see my Venmo requests,\u201d said an NL reliever.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt literally happens every game,\u201d said an AL pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had people approach me,\u201d said an NL pitcher. \u201cI nod my head and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always about costing them X amount of money, expletive, expletive, expletive,\u201d said an NL outfielder.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn social media,\u201d said an AL pitcher, \u201ceverybody feels like they can say whatever the f— they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been Venmo requested,\u201d said an AL pitcher. \u201cI\u2019ve also gotten a bunch of threats. It sucks. It\u2019s been all over the map.\u201d<\/p>\n
OK, but what, exactly, do the messages entail?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s really taking the time to message you and say, \u2018Hey, great game,\u2019\u201d said an NL hitter. \u201cIf they win a bet, it\u2019s not because you did it. It\u2019s because they knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotten DMs, like, \u2018You owe me $50\u2019 or \u2018You can\u2019t get one more strikeout?\u2019\u201d said an NL pitcher. \u201cAnd some choice words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always reach out in DMs to let you know you screwed up,\u201d said an NL pitcher. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Come on, I know I gave up a homer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Venmo requests are easy to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a random person, like, \u2018Dude, you owe me $10,\u2019\u201d said an NL hitter. \u201cYou just blow it off.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least, usually.<\/p>\n
An AL East pitcher said he once received a Venmo request for $3,000 after a game, accompanied by a message: \u201cYou cost me my parlay. Let\u2019s do the right thing.\u201d The pitcher said he replied that his worst day is \u201cstill better than your best day.\u201d The bettor repeated the ritual after another outing, with another $3,000 request and a message that read: \u201cYou did so poorly today, you don\u2019t deserve to get paid.\u201d The pitcher said he fulfilled the request and sent back: \u201cI make way more than three grand in a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
An AL pitcher said he\u2019ll send back 50 cents and\/or a funny barb. \u201cAnd they\u2019re like, \u2018You\u2019re actually pretty cool. Sorry, man.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes, however, it crosses a line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt only gets weird when you see your home address on there,\u201d said an AL pitcher.<\/p>\n
An NL outfielder said he receives threats \u201call the time. Like, \u2018I hope you die.\u2019 \u2018I hope your family dies.\u2019 \u2018You ruined my parlay.\u2019 All the time. Ever since betting became legal, it\u2019s become ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
One NL pitcher said he received a surly DM after his first spring training game this year. \u201cLike, really? The guy\u2019s like, \u2018You couldn\u2019t strike out two batters?\u2019 What is he doing betting on me in a spring training game in February? Just goes to show people are betting on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
An AL pitcher said he receives five to 10 DMs after each outing. \u201cIt\u2019s, like, six, seven, eight scoreless (innings) and people are mad because you don\u2019t strike out over 6 1\/2 guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have a good outing,\u201d said an AL pitcher, \u201cand guys would kind of m—–f— me for having a good outing because they have the over on a game. Or I would have a bad outing and they would say the same thing, that they had the under or whatever it may be. It\u2019s pretty much every game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone has a different approach to dealing with it: ignoring, laughing or shrugging it off, or engaging with the oft-anonymous person.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can say whatever they want,\u201d said an NL outfielder. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you if you let it affect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone messaged an AL pitcher that he cost them $500, so the pitcher replied: \u201cWell, you should have done something else with (the money).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s concerning when you see it at first,\u201d said an NL hitter, \u201cbut then it\u2019s like, \u2018All right. They\u2019re trying to use it as a scare tactic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It leads to a bit of wishful thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cA person gambling on me, I wish there was gambling on them,\u201d said an NL pitcher. \u201c\u2018Hey, how many times (are) you going to honk at somebody today if they cut you off?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Once in a while, cooler heads prevail.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that stands out,\u201d said an NL pitcher, \u201cis when someone is very clearly emotional from losing and will say, \u2018F— you. I hate you. I can\u2019t pay my rent because of you.\u2019 There will be times people do that and then a day or a few hours later, they\u2019re like, \u2018Hey, man. Sorry.\u2019 It\u2019s such an emotional, volatile situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
And on the rare occasion, there can be a positive interaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy rookie year,\u201d said an NL infielder, \u201cI had a really good September, and I had a bunch of people DM me that I helped them win their fantasy baseball championships. But this was before sports betting became huge, so I think there probably weren\u2019t as many bad scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has become as much a part of the professional athlete lifestyle as signing autographs or lifting weights:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,23371,3276],"class_list":["post-870215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}