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How To Bet On Baseball: Basics, Odds, Markets, & Examples
As shown in the figure above, a standard listing of baseball bets consists of multiple pieces of information you need to learn how to read and analyze. Here is a breakdown:
- The time and date show the schedule for the first pitch of each game.
- Rotation numbers are unique identifiers for each side of the baseball bet.
- Teams and starters show away and home teams. Away or road teams are always listed at the top, and home teams are always listed at the bottom. Also, projected starters are sometimes listed, along with whether they are left or right-handed.
Opening odds is an optional section where bookmakers show the opening Moneyline and total. You cannot bet on the opening numbers. They are there to give you an idea about the market and help you to compare the opening odds with the current odds to better anticipate where the market is going.
Every baseball odds listing should show the Moneyline odds for the favorite team and the game total. The favorite odds are represented by a negative 3-digit number. The game total is shown with a number between 5 and 15.
The information I already covered is the primary and standard for baseball odds listing. The listing formats may differ from sportsbook to sportsbook.
Learn To Correctly Read The Odds: All Baseball Betting Markets Explained
Baseball betting is one of the most straightforward sports betting markets and the easiest to understand.
As mentioned above, the outcome of most baseball games is determined by one run. Hence, the most common betting market is picking the winner, known as betting on the moneyline. But this is not the only market to bet on baseball and MLB odds. Let’s break down your options below:
1. Moneyline: Betting on Who Wins The Game
Moneyline is the most basic form of sports betting, where you bet on the winner of the game. In other words, you predict the winner and bet on your prediction. When placing a Moneyline wager on baseball, you pick the winner, and it does not matter by how much the team wins; it does not matter if it’s in 9 innings or 90! If your team wins, your bet wins.
Baseball Moneyline odds represent the likelihood of each team winning the game. They are displayed with American odds(hundreds), where a negative sign suggests the team is the favorite, while the positive sign shows the team is the underdog, which is less likely to win.
Let’s have a close look at an example:
| Team | Moneyline Odds |
| Boston Red Sox | -150 |
| NY Yankees | +120 |
Red Sox, with the -150 odds, is the favorite to win. If you bet $10 on them and they win, you will win $6.7 plus your initial wager, and your net profit will be $16.7.
On the other hand, if you are a die-hard Yankees fan and want to back them even if they are not likely to win, you should risk $100 to win $120. If they can beat the odds and win, your net profit for a $100 wager will be $220.
Remember, bookmakers keep a percentage of your winnings as vigorish or vigorish, which is the same as the commission in casino games. Typically, the vig ranges between 2.4% to 5%, depending on the bookmaker and odds.
There will be no tie in baseball except in the occasional ALL-STAR game. The game’s final result, including any possible extra innings, will determine the fate of your Moneyline bet.
2. Point Spread: Baseball Run Line Bets
Run line bets are the same as point spreads in other sports. The number of runs works the same as points to handicap two teams. While the most common baseball run line odds is 1.5, with the favorite being -1.5 and the underdog +1.5, depending on how heavy of a favorite a team is, you may see 2.5 run line odds.
Look at this example:
| Run Line Odds | |
| Houston Astros -1.5 | +120 |
| LA Angels +1.5 | -140 |
You may wonder why the odds for the favorite has a positive sign while the underdog is assigned a negative sign. Similar to the handicap and spread concept in other sports, where bookmakers give an advantage to the underdog team to balance the action on both sides, baseball run lines follow the same principle. Run line odds are adjusted to even the action on both sides.
In this example, if you bet $10 on Astros, they must win by two or more runs for you to win $12 plus your initial wager. On the other hand, if you back LA Angles and they win outright or lose by only one run, you would win $100 for your $140 wager and a net profit of $240.
3. Over-Under: Bet On The Total Number of Runs
This is similar to the other over/under bets in other sports. However, in baseball, the sportsbook sets a number of total combined runs in the game. Now, if you bet under, teams should score less than that number for you to win. On the other hand, if you bet the over, the teams total scored runs should be more than that number for your bet to win.
Baseball total bets are offered as straight 11/10 bets with -110 on either side(over/under) and in increments of ½ runs.
Like football and basketball, any extra play will be counted in the total bet. In other words, extra innings will be included in your total bet. For instance, if you bet over 6.5 and the 9th inning finishes at 3-3, you lose your bet because the game continues until one team tops the other.
4. Team Totals(tt): Bet On The Total Scored Runs by A Team
Team totals are another popular baseball betting market in which you should bet on the total number of scored runs by one of the two teams.
Here we explained What TT means in baseball betting, along with the payouts and best strategies to bet.
5. Props: Player Props/Team Props
Prop or proposition bets are extremely popular among sports bettors, and baseball props is no exception. In this market, you bet on events independent of the game’s outcome. For example, a specific player’s performance, such as the number of hits.
Typically, prop bets offer juicy payouts as well as higher risks. In other words, you are more likely to lose such bets.
6. Parlay: Bet On Multiple Events
Parlays are multi-bets. In other words, you combine multiple bets in one single ticket for a chance to win big. For example, NY Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox vs Chicago White Sox, and LA Dodgers vs Arizona Diamondbacks in a single bet slip.
The twist is that all the legs(every single bet) must hit(win) for your entire parlay to pay out. Otherwise, you lose it all. Successful parlay betting requires a solid understanding of sports betting and handicapping. The pain of losing parlays is what connects sports bettors worldwide!
You can find the most relatable and hilarious sports betting memes on the Casino Finders community.
Same-game parlays, or SGP, allow bettors to combine multiple outcomes within a single baseball game into a single ticket with a bigger payout. Again, you need each leg to win for your entire SGP to pay off.
7. In-Play Bets: Bet On Live Events
Live betting is another popular sports betting market. In-play baseball betting means you place your wagers during the game. Live betting adds to the excitement of the game because everything happens in real-time, the speed of changes is fast, and you should stay sharp to place a winning bet.
8. Baseball Futures
As the name suggests, future bets are wagers that will not pay off until some time in the near future. In MLB, future bets would be backing a team to win the World Series a month before the playoffs. You can place future bets before and during a season. But remember, the odds keep changing depending on the team’s performance. If you are patient enough for your bet to pay off, future bets are for you!
9. Home Run Hits
Home run hits is another popular and profitable baseball betting market.
There are different approaches to betting on home runs. For example, you can create a parlay of home run hits in all 7 games on the same day.
Another option is to bet on the home run props. Baseball home run prop bets allow you to bet on a specific outcome related to home run hits in a given game. Here is an example:
| Kansas City Royals vs Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Outcome | Odds |
| Total Home Runs O 2.5 | +120 |
| Total Home Runs U 2.5 | -150 |
Here, if you bet $10 on the total home runs Over 2.5, there must be three or more runs in the game for your bet to pay out $12 plus your initial wager. If you bet the Under, there must be two or fewer runs for your ticket to win.
10. Other Baseball Betting Markets
As mentioned in the beginning, baseball offers a ton of betting opportunities. I explained the most common ones in detail. Below are other baseball betting odds at top US and Florida sports betting sites.
- First Five Innings(f5)
- Grand Salami
- Total Hits+Runs+Errors
- Pitcher Strikeouts
- Stolen Bases
- Inning-specific Bets
Sportsbooks list baseball odds differently. Some offer low-vig bets, some offer considerably better odds on favorites(like BetOnline Sportsbook), and some do the exact opposite. The main takeaway is that:
Regardless of which betting market you pick, you should have at least 3 outs! In other words, you must have a handful of betting options and select the best possible odds of winning.
5 Baseball Betting Strategies That Actually Work
- Bet on Underdogs, Especially at Home: Baseball’s unpredictable nature means underdogs often come out on top. Home underdogs, in particular, can offer great value.
- Focus on the First 5 Innings: By betting on the first 5 innings, you can minimize the impact of bullpen performance and managerial decisions, allowing you to concentrate on the starting pitchers’ matchups.
- Take advantage of the martingale betting system for live bets: Bet on over 0.5 runs in the first inning of a game. If it doesn’t hit, double down on the second inning. Then, the 3rd inning, etc. You can usually get these odds between -110 and -150. This wouldn’t work if a game were suspended due to weather delays. Or if it’s 0-0 after 9 innings, which is rare.
- Use Alternative Run Lines: Instead of sticking to the standard -1.5 run lines, consider creating a -1.0 run line by splitting your bet between the Moneyline and the run line. This strategy offers some protection against one-run losses.
- Avoid Heavy Favorites and Parlays: Due to the long season and frequent upsets, betting on heavy favorites or combining multiple games into parlays with more than 4 to 5 legs can dramatically reduce your expected value over time.
Final Thoughts
Baseball is not only fun to play but also to bet on. There are plenty of betting options for both novice and pro sports bettors to actually make money, including Moneyline, run line, props, futures, parlay, and in-play. Even if you don’t know every detail about the game’s rules, reviewing the basics, watching a couple of games, carefully reading our baseball betting guides, and using the explained tips, you can place bets with high chances of winning.
May your home run prop hit!
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