Last time out, we looked at the results of the pre-season bets people were invited to place on the position players who were part of the 2025 D-backs, as well as some other lines like wins, Lovullo ejections and MLB debuts. Now, it’s the turn of the pitchers – and, more importantly, we will also reveal the overall results. Who will be scrubbing toilets in the SnakePit Casino to pay off their debt? And will anyone be able to afford anything more to celebrate with than a pack of chewing-gum?

Corbin Burnes Wins – 12.5 (1687.5-0) – UNDER, 3Corbin Burnes ERA – 3.30 (600-650) – UNDER, 2.66Corbin Burnes K’s – 170.5 (1350-0) – UNDER, 63

This is my sad face. But it’s a telling reminder that these lines almost always will “seem” low. They factor in the non-zero, inevitable chance of injury to a player, which we fans find difficult to consider. But when it happens, particularly when it’s relatively early in the season, then the under becomes a certainty. That was the case here: despite some stellar outings (as indicated by Burnes’s ERA), the wins ended up missing by a particularly huge margin. It’s interesting he managed only three wins in eleven starts: a 2.97 ERA over his six no-decisions is a factor. Weirdly, the team averaged six runs per game in those, so it wasn’t especially a lack of run support.

Zac Gallen Wins – 11.5 (1387.5-0) – OVER, 13Zac Gallen K’s – 167.5 (300-0) – OVER, 175

This includes one of the lines which did chance since our check-in at the one-third point. Through the end of May, Gallen had an anemic 3-7 record, to go along with his lackluster 5.54 ERA. Though Zac never won more than two consecutive starts the whole season, he chipped away – and, most importantly, stayed healthy, to finish the year at 13-15. Though those fifteen losses hasn’t been surpassed in Arizona since Rodrigo Lopez took 16 L’s in 2010. The 28 total decisions makes the top five in franchise history: the last time that was exceeded was all the way back in 2008, when Brandon Webb was 22-7, but threw 34.2 more innings than Gallen.

Brandon Pfaadt Wins – 10 (300-150) – OVER, 13Brandon Pfaadt K’s – 165.5 (150-0) – UNDER, 147

Ah, anyone remember the golden, halcyon days when Brandon was leading the National League in wins, and on pace for 21 victories? Ah, those were glorious days. Going 5-0 in April will help. The rest of the year was considerably rougher for Pfaadt, to put it mildly. From May 1 on, his ERA was 5.87, though his W-L record was still a respectable 8-8 over that time. Like Gallen, he had no injury issues and made his full expected slate of 33 starts. But the strikeout rare remained lower than expected – Brandon was 37th of the 52 qualified starters. That final tally was exactly as projected at the one-third point, and never troubled the line.

Justin Martinez Saves MINUS A.J. Puk Saves – 3.5 (1087.5-0) – UNDER, 1

This is my sad face, v2.0. As famous baseball analyst Oscar Wilde once said: ‘To lose one closer, Mr. Lovullo, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.“ This ended up a close battle… just not for the reasons we wanted. Puk got his fourth and final save of the season on April 17, opening the door for Martinez to cruise to the over. But he hit the IL at the start of May, and his return was brief. His last save, #5, took place on June 5, and our pair of co-closers ended the year having thrown a combined total of only 23.1 innings. What might have been, turned into what never really was.

Before we get to the rankings, let’s review the best and worst collective bets. Though I guess those definitions depend on your point of view. Speaking on behalf of the SnakePit Casino, I for one was very happy with the result of the team wins bet, which netted the house a profit of S$2737.50. However, I was less satisfied with Carroll crushing ten home-runs more than I would have liked. Nobody bet the under on that line, and consequently the casino took a bath to the tune of S$2437.50. Just glad he didn’t score another run, or that would have added another S$1,550 to the debit side of Corbin’s ledger; instead that went quite well, thank you.

The net result was… well a ten-way tie for first place. Though all of these co-champions will hardly be sipping on champagne, since they each made a modest profit of three hundred SnakePit Dollars, winning three of their five evenly-split bets, and losing two. If I had to pick one special person out, it would be kilnborn. For if Carroll had scored just that one additional run, he would have won four out of five, causing him to finish on S$900, with three times the profit of anyone else. At the other end, Sprinkle and Steak85 both lost four of five bets, and were major contributors to this year’s house profit of S$1,175. So long, suckaz!

1AZfan1 – 300EdTheRed99 – 300eel2 – 300joecb1991 – 300Justin27 – 300kilnborn 300Makakilo – 300MrRbi17 – 300Snake_Bitten – 300TikiGuy – 300ercil – 100DBacksEurope – -300Diamondhacks – -300gzimmerm – -300Smurf-1000 – -300UofALifer – -300chronicles_of_the_desert – -375BeTeaBaseball – -600Sprinkle – -900Steak85 – -900

Of course, we will be back with this again next year, and I hope to see everyone again then – sadder, poorer and, hopefully, no wiser!