Originally Posted by
Panekkkk
Well, it's difficult to say. It's naive to think that fixing doesn't occur (it's been exposed in various sports over the years). To what extent it affects baseball and how is impossible to say and will never be exposed. I personally think the manager, starting pitcher and closer (I guess all are obvious) have the most influence on deciding a game. Lately on a lot of high consensus games I've been noticing managers leaving in pitchers that are WELL PAST their pitch count and that pitcher gets shelled and his team loses the game. It keeps occurring in situations where any rational person would think to bring in the bullpen. Sure, this kind of thing happens ALL THE TIME simply by chance but if fixing occurs even in 0.5% of all games, that's a substantial bias and can affect your bankroll greatly.
This is why you'll notice a lot of bettors stay away from high consensus games (games where the public is over 80% on one side).