Originally posted on 07/24/2013:

@Gasto
1) Players aren't in on a fix in this day and age.
No pro in their right mind is going to throw a game for 10K when the absolute, rock bottom mininum salary for a rookie is now 300K per year.

And no rock bottom rookie salaried player will ever be in a situation when the game is on the line anyway.

The average baseball salary in 2013 is now 3.2 million per year. No player is going to risk their entire professional career, or even prison, by throwing a game for 10K, or even 50K

Get caught, your life is ruined. don't believe me, look at Pete Rose.

2) You can't fix a game in the 8th inning, nobody knows what the situation will be in the 8th inning before a game starts, how can you pay off a reliever before a game starts? If the game is 9-2 after seven inning, how can a fix be done? What do you think happens, crooked nosed Guido calls down to the bull pen and tells the closer, "yo, tank the ninth inning and take a dive or you'll be swimming with the fishes, capice?"

3) Grant Balfour, the Oakland closer's contract this season is 4.5 million, he doesn't need fix money, all meals, hotels, and spending allowence is picked up by the team. He makes about 400 K a month. A month ! What does he need fix money for? He makes more in month than he needs to make in a year.

4) There is no covering the spread in baseball. It's a football term that isn't even relevant anymore, point spreads went out of style in the 50's, now it's called a line, there are no mroe spreads where books collect if the final score falls between a spread. That went out with Al Capone.

5) Did it ever occur to you that if a team has a two run lead in the ninth, and there is a man on first, they'll allow him second base with two out on what is called 'catchers indifference' because that runner doesn't mean shit, unless there is a homerun in which case he would have scored regardless of what bag he was on?

6) This pertains to the OP, maybe your 4 team parlay lost because your wagers depended on you winning four consecutive wagers for one payout. It's hard enough to pick two straight, but it's beyond me why anybody would bet 4 teams to win for one payout. Parlays are the reason why books have summmer homes, and parlay players eat spam and eggs.

7) On the rare occasions games are fixed, and some, but not many are, you fix it by getting to the umpire.
Umpires rotate clockwise from game to game, the man who umpired first base yesterday, will umpire home plate today, the umpire who had the plate yesterday, will get to umpire third today.
So, you can get to the firstbase umpire after the game today, and bribe him for tomorrow's game because he handles the balls and strikes.
The most common way to control (not fix) a game is the 2 ball, 2 strike pitch.
A lot of times, a 2 and 2 pitch that gets called a ball when it was clearly strike three is an indicator that a fix might be in.
How many times have you seen a strike 3 call be called ball 3, only to have the next pitch creamed over the fence?
That's how a game is commonly fixed, and it's not that common a game is fixed.

8) Anybody who cries fix after a losing a wager, really, really, needs to find a new hobby, because betting sports is not for you.