The Basics of Betting on Baseball
Did you know that betting on baseball is one of the most popular forms of online sports betting in the United States? With 30 teams playing 162 games nearly every day and night from April through October, knowing the basics of baseball betting can give you a highly entertaining and profitable experience.
If you are not entirely sure where, how, or what to look for when placing your first Major League Baseball bet then you are in the right place, because we're going to teach you how to bet on Major League Baseball, and check out the infographic at the end of this article for a recap!
Betting on Baseball: Three Standard Wagers
Baseball betting is unique because most games are decided by 1 run or less, so you won’t find traditional point spreads as when betting football. Instead of getting or giving points, every game has a 1.5 run margin, meaning you bet a favorite to win by two runs or an underdog to lose by less than one run. Let’s go over the run line and two other standard wagers in the baseball market.
It's 2021 and online major league baseball betting has never been more popular or accessible for fans across the country. If you live in one of the dozen states that currently allow online sports betting, you have a range of options from traditional sportsbooks like Bovada, BetOnline and Bet365 to recent entrants like FanDuel, DraftKings, and Barstool.
1) The Moneyline Bet
For the most basic bet, you can simply place a wager on any team you believe will win their baseball game outright. This is called a money-line bet; whoever wins the game on the scoreboard wins the bet. Of course not all teams are created equally, so when placing this bet you need to pay close attention to the specific odds on the game.
Consider a game between the Dodgers and the Yankees, and the book has the odds as Dodgers +120 and Yankees as -140. These plus-minus numbers are intimidating for new sports bettors, but don't let them scare you. Some simple logic will reveal the hold percentage, or how much you will win back on your wager. As you gain experience, these numbers will help you identify value and distinguish good bets from bad.
Continuing with our Dodgers-Yankees game: any team that has a plus sign in front of their odds indicates they are the underdog for the game. The Los Angeles Dodgers +120 simply means that for every $10 you wager you will earn $12 in profit if your bet wins. Any team with a minus sign in front of their odds indicates they are favored in the game. At -140, the Yankees are the favorite, so your $10 bet would only pay $7.14 in profit for a total of $17.14.
Here’s a simple sports betting calculator for reference. Simple enough, right? Now let’s look at the run line.
2) The Run Line Bet
Now if you are interested in betting on a game with a heavy favorite or a big underdog, you can improve your position by betting on the run line. The Run line is a form of point spread betting in which you apply a one and a half run handicap to either team. The underdog side receives the points and is displayed as +1.5, the favorite at -1.5. Since baseball does not award half runs, the run line bet can never push.
In our example, the Yankees are favored so their moneyline odds are -140. If you apply the minus one and a half run line, their odds become +150. In this example a $10 wager on the Yankees to win by two runs or more will result in a profit of $15 on a $10 wager or $150 on a $100 bet.
3) Over/Under Betting
The final wager for MLB is over/under betting. For this type of wager your book will set a total number of runs they believe will be scored by both teams, perhaps 8.5 runs in our Yankees vs. Dodgers example. This number represents the combined score of both teams at the end of the game, regardless of who wins.
Betting the over/under is easy: you can either bet that both teams will score less than or more than 8.5. Over/under bets can be whole numbers as well, meaning you can push if the over/under was simply 8 or 9. The odds are similar to the traditional sports where the payout when your wager will generally be in the neighborhood of -110 for either side.
Remember that it doesn't matter who wins if you bet the over/under, but you can often find value here if you know where to look. For example, in many big games like the playoffs or World Series, casual betters tend to favor the over because the general public would rather see hits and home runs.
But smart bettors recognize the value lies with the under because playoff teams generally have better pitching staff, top starters and powerful, deep bullpens which often makes scoring runs difficult. And this is especially in cold weather playoff games, which is a factor you don’t want to forget as the playoffs run into October and some of the better franchises play in outdoor ballparks. This is also a strategy many successful bettors use in the beginning of the season when pitchers are usually better prepared than the hitters and cold weather makes for lower scoring baseball games.
Other Baseball Betting Basics
So those are the basics of how to bet baseball, from the money line to the run line and the over-under. As sports betting becomes more popular, the books are beginning to offer all three of these common major league baseball bets in the first half of the game, as well as in-game betting where the lines and odds change in accordance with game flow.
You can also parlay your bets, but they can be off the books on certain high probability events. For example, you would not be able to parlay the Dodgers run line and moneyline, because if the Dodgers win the moneyline they are guaranteed to cover the +1.5 run line. Try packaging a few different game run lines or over/unders instead to increase your odds.
Now that you have an understanding of how baseball betting works, good luck placing smarter and more entertaining bets. Good luck to all and as always, bet with your head and not over it!
Need to select an online sportsbook? Keep on reading…
Choose Your Online Baseball Betting Service
Online sports betting is a booming industry. If you live in one of the states that currently allow online sports betting, you have a range of options from traditional sportsbooks like Bovada, BetOnline and Bet365 to recent entrants like FanDuel, DraftKings, and Barstool.
Any of these online betting sites will offer the popular baseball bets of run line, moneyline, and over/under betting options, and you don't have to pick just one service. Many experienced bettors will have accounts at multiple online sportsbooks so they can "shop" for lines they think provide more value than another. Plus, the competition between sportsbooks for the right to service your wagers means you can find great promotions like guaranteed bets or deposit bonuses to get you started.