Odds of Washington Mystics Not Winning 2019 WNBA Championship Set at -180; Is There Value?
- Sportsbooks have set up a prop wager offering odds of -180 that the Washington Mystics won’t won the 2019 WNBA title
- Washington is currently 14-7 and second overall in the Eastern Conference
- The Mystics were swept in the 2018 WNBA final by the Seattle Storm
It’s been a hit or miss season for the Washington Mystics, and sportsbooks are offering odds that ultimately, miss will win the day.
Sportsbooks have set -180 odds that the Mystics won’t win the 2019 WNBA Championship. The 14-7 Mystics currently hold down second spot in the Eastern Conference.
Will the Washington Mystics Win 2019 WNBA Championship?
| Outcome | Odds |
|---|---|
| No | -180 |
| Yes | +150 |
*All odds taken 08/05/19
Washington lost the 2018 WNBA final. The Mystics were swept away by the Seattle Storm 3-0 in the best-of-five series. Washington has never won the WNBA title.
The Mystery of the Mystics
Basketball is a game of runs, and certainly the Mystics have run the table this season in terms of runs. They opened the campaign with an 86-79 road setback at the Minnesota Lynx and were 1-2 after three games.
Then Washington rattled off a four-game winning streak. Just like that, the team went south again, losing back-to-back games.
A five-game winning streak followed that brief dip but then came another slide of three losses in a row. A second five-game run of wins came to a crashing halt Sunday when the Mystics were drubbed 103-92 by the 11-10 Phoenix Mercury. Washington trailed by as much as 27 points in this latest setback.
Just six days earlier, Washington had downed Phoenix 99-93 in record-setting fashion. For the first time in WNBA history, five different players hit for 25 points each. But even in this historic moment, the Mystics played second fiddle.
Washington’s Elena Delle Donne (33) and Kristi Toliver (25) were part of the milestone but it took the Phoenix trio of Brittney Griner (30), Leilani Mitchell (28) and DeWanna Bonner (25) to push the two teams into the record book.
Rising in the East?
An interesting stat in regards to the Mystics is that five of their seven losses have come at the hands of Western Conference teams. Against Eastern clubs, they are a combined 8-2. But both of their losses came on the road at the hands of the conference-leading Connecticut Sun.
They just keep rollin' in!
This is the 4️⃣th #WNBA Player of the Week for @De11eDonne ? pic.twitter.com/1fw8gEQYn9
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) August 5, 2019
Delle Donne is tied for second in the league in scoring (18.7 points per game), fourth in rebounds per game (8.4.) and three-point field goal percentage (45.9). She was just named WNBA Player of the Week for the fourth time. Toliver is third in assists per game (5.6).
Here Comes the Sun
It all comes down to this – can the Mystics rise up and overcome the Sun? They drubbed 16-6 Connecticut 102-59 on their home court but like most WNBA teams, are winless (0-2) at Connecticut, where the Sun is a league-best 11-1.
Washington leads the WNBA in several offensive categories, including points per game (86.6). Connecticut is fourth overall at 79.5.
More significantly, the Sun are second-best in defensive rating (94.0), compared to Washington’s dismal 10th-place mark (99.7).
That defensive deficiency is why you can’t bet the Mystics to win the WNBA title. “No” is the play here.
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
