A Dumb Sports Bet
My friend Staffan and I have a dumb recurring yearly bet on Seattle sports. The bet revolves around the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Sounders. If the Mariners make the playoffs, I pay Staffan $2. If the Sounders make it to the Western Conference Finals, Staffan pays me $2. On paper, that sounds heavily weighted in his favor. AND YET. The Mariners have made the playoffs once since 2001, and the Sounders are an elite team.
I update the running totals once a year, some time around October and November depending on the results.
| Year | Mariners? | Sounders? | Net Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | ❌ | ✅ | +$4 |
| 2018 | ❌ | ❌ | +$0 (bad) |
| 2019 | ❌ | ✅ | +$4 |
| 2020 | ❌ | ✅ | +$4 |
| 2021 | ❌ | ❌ | +$0 (bad) |
| 2022 | ✅ | ❌ | -$4 |
| 2023 | ❌ | ❌ | +$0 (bad) |
| 2024 | ❌ | ✅ | +$4 |
| 2025 | ✅ | ❌ | -$4 |
😞 We have yet to encounter the best case scenario.