How To Bet Mlb Baseball

  1. How To Bet Mlb Baseball
  2. How To Get Mlb Baseball By Streaming Tv
  3. How To Bet On Mlb Baseball
  4. How To Get Mlb Baseball On Kodi
  5. How To Bet On Mlb Baseball

How to Bet On Sports > How to Bet on Baseball

“One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something.” – Nolan Ryan

MLB betting: How do odds work? Baseball odds on the moneyline generally range from -250 to +250, but one of the lures of MLB betting is the preponderance of plays in the -175 to +175 range. The odds are calculated differently as the odds of the teams are used instead of a set system. Here is a look at how to bet on baseball parlays. A baseball parlay is simply a wager in which the player bets on multiple teams where the money is taken from the winning selection and then bet on the next team in a parlay. How to Bet on Baseball Unlike football and basketball where the majority of bets are based on the point spread, baseball is a moneyline sport. This means that bettors need to pick only who wins the game, not who covers. When betting the moneyline, you have the option to take either the favorite — the team expected to win — or the underdog.

The main betting on baseball format for picking a winning team in a game is a moneyline, which is based on a $100 wager. The heaviest favorite you might see in a baseball game is around -300, meaning you would have to bet $300 to win $100. The Ultimate List of MLB Handicapping Resources. Handicapping baseball is markedly different than it is for any other sport. There is a long season to consider, plus the fact that you are typically betting on the moneyline as opposed to against the spread.

Introduction

In this article, we will be explaining the ins and outs of how to bet on baseball. Topics will include wager types, baseball betting terminology, and a guide on which sportsbooks to utilize to make the most of your wagers. By combining this knowledge with the information provided by our live odds product and proven betting systems, you will see how easy it is to become a winning baseball bettor.

How To Bet Mlb Baseball

Moneylines

“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.” – Yogi Berra

There are many ways to bet on baseball, and each have certain advantages and disadvantages and appeal to different people. The most popular bet by far is the moneylinebet, where you simply pick the winner of the game. The following is an example of a moneyline bet:

New York Yankees -150
Boston Red Sox +140

Since some teams are much better than others, the odds on a moneyline bet can vary drastically; for instance, you may have to lay -300 odds (meaning you would have to bet $300 to win $100) if betting the moneyline on a big favorite. On the other hand, you may be given large odds in your favor if you back a significant underdog because you would be taking a big risk. Historically, the public tends to bet mostly favorites throughout the baseball season.

5-Inning Lines

“Life will always throw you curves, just keep fouling them off…the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases.” – Rick Maksian

A 5-Inning line is a moneyline that uses the score after five innings to determine the winner, rather than the final score. It is similar to betting on the first half of a football or basketball game. Odds on a 5-inning line will usually be very similar to the regular moneyline odds; however, due to the shortened nature of the bet, the starting pitcher match-up is weighted more heavily and may sway the odds one way or the other.

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Totals

The second most popular bet is betting the total, also known as over/under wagering. When betting baseball totals, you are wagering whether a games total score (home team plus away team) will be over or under a predetermined amount of runs, as set by the sportsbook. For instance, you might see a line that looks like this:

New York Yankees/Boston Red SoxOver 9.5 (-110)
New York Yankees/Boston Red SoxUnder 9.5 (-110)

This lines stipulates that you can risk $110 to win $100 by choosing if the game will have 10 or more runs scored (over), or 9 or less runs scored (under). Sometimes the odds may be adjusted by the book if they are trying to balance their ledger by encouraging wagers on one side or another. This does not necessarily mean that one bet is more likely to win out over another, and oftentimes can present good value opportunity when used in conjunction with our betting systems and “bet against the public” philosophy.

Runlines

Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bob Feller

A runline is very similar to a spread bet in football or basketball, except in baseball the runline is almost always -1.5 or -2.5, meaning the favorite must win by either 2 or 3 to cover. A typical runline wager will look like this:

TeamMoneylineRunline
New York Yankees-150-1.5 (-110)
Boston Red Sox+140+1.5 (+100)

A runline is offered by sportsbooks to provide a wager with odds closer to 1:1, allowing bettors to avoid the higher odds often found in moneyline wagering. In the above example, the Yankees have a moneyline of -150, meaning you have to wager $150 to win $100, but a runline of -1.5 with -110 odds, meaning that you need only risk $110 to win $100, although the team must by win by at least 2 runs. It would then be your decision as to which bet you feel more comfortable with; if you feel strongly that the favorite will win by at least 2, then the runline offers a good opportunity to increase your payout by laying the runline rather than taking the moneyline with worse odds.

How

Alternate Runlines

“The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then pick it up.” – Bob Uecker

An alternate runline wager is a runline that has been flipped, making the favorite an underdog and the underdog the favorite. The following as an example, showing the runline followed by the alternate runline:

TeamMoneylineRunlineAlternate Runline
New York Yankees-150-1.5 (-110)+1.5 (-250)
Boston Red Sox+140+1.5 (+100)-1.5 (+220)

Alternative runlines can be a great wagering option in certain scenarios, allowing you to increase your payout when you feel strongly about an underdog or marginalize your risk when backing a favorite. As an example, if you believe the underdog is significantly better than the favorite, you can increase your payout even further by actually turning the underdog into the favorite (in the above example, laying -1.5 on the Red Sox to get +220 instead of +100 on the +1.5 runline).

Futures and Season Wins

“The season starts too early and finishes too late and there are too many games in between.” – Bill Veeck

The final method to bet on baseball is by betting on futures or season wins. These options are somewhat popular before the season starts, but do not get a lot of action because of the long-term nature of the bet, strict betting limits, and the significant odds usually associated with these bets. Futures involve betting on a team to accomplish certain goals in the upcoming season, such as winning their division, their league’s pennant, or the World Series. The odds increase based on how unlikely the event is to occur, to such a degree that a team thought to be terrible in the preseason may receive 200 to 1 odds to win the World Series. Betting on Season Wins is very similar to betting totals, except in this case you would be taking the over or under on total wins for a baseball club in the upcoming season, with odds being roughly around the standard -110, adjusted to the sportsbooks liking.

Strategies for Choosing your Sportsbooks

“Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” – Frederick B. Wilcox

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A running theme at SportsInsights is that “all sportsbooks are not created equal”, and that proverb holds true in baseball. One of the most important things to be aware of when placing a moneyline bet is if the sportsbook offers “dimeline” odds. Dimeline odds ensures that the odds on the favorite and the ‘dog will always be separated by 10 cents on the dollar, hence the term “dimeline”. For instance, if a favorite is given -150 odds, then the underdog will have a line of +140, a 10 cent difference.

Dimelines are great because they ensure that a sportsbook can’t over-shade a favorite, or else they risk exposing themselves to very large underdog lines on the back side. Some sportsbooks offer 15 or 20 cent odds, hoping their members are either unaware of dimeline sportsbooks or unwilling to change books. A 20 cent book means that the favorite and underdog will be separated by 20 cents, meaning a -150 line on a favorite will feature a + 130 line on the underdog. Using a 15 or 20 cent sportsbooks puts you at an automatic disadvantage – don’t settle for these lines! Simply by choosing a dimeline book over a 20 cent book you can ensure that your units won will be higher in the long term, regardless of who you bet.

As great as dimeline books may be, there are even better options out there for moneyline bettors. These options are called betting exchanges, and oftentimes they will offer the best lines you can find anywhere in the world. Betting exchanges forego the “middle man” and allow bettors from all over the world to offer lines directly to one another, resulting in lines that are often more favorable than that can be found at any sportsbook. The following is an example taken directly from today’s (3/25/09) moneylines on a preseason game:

CRIS Sportsbook
HOU -155
STL +135
Matchbook Betting Exchange
HOU -150
STL +147

As you can see, Matchbook, a betting exchange, offers a better line on both the favorite and the underdog! In addition, a betting exchange doesn’t “straddle the line” like a sportsbook does (always separating the favorite and underdog line by exactly 10 or 20 cents, essentially the vig). Since a betting exchange’s lines are set by its members, it is not uncommon to find equal (i.e., +150/-150) or near-equal odds on the favorite and underdog – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Never settle on using just one sportsbook to place all of your wagers. By diversifying your sportsbook memberships, you allow yourself the opportunity to seek out the best lines and get the most bang for your buck. You can often find a line at least 5 cents better than the one at your favorite book by shopping around, and for a $100 bettor who places 50 bets, that would be a $250 swing in profits! For any bettor, it makes sense to belong to at least one betting exchange in addition to your favorite dimeline sportsbooks in order to maximize every dollar wagered.

Baseball is called America’s pastime. And, for most of the 20th century, that was absolutely true as it was easily the most popular sport in the country. Babe Ruth remains perhaps the most iconic athlete in U.S. history. When talking about the greats in other sports, they are often referred to as the “Babe Ruth of football” or “Babe Ruth of basketball,” etc. Ruth’s former team, the New York Yankees, remains the marquee franchise in American sports and has won more championships than any other franchise by far in the four major pro sports leagues.

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Shoot, the first major gambling reference most Americans probably remember was the 1919 Black Sox scandal. The 1919 Chicago White Sox were considered one of the greatest teams of all-time, led by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. That team was heavily favored to win the ’19 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, but a handful of players allegedly took money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein to throw the Fall Classic, and the Reds won it.

The eight players involved, including Jackson, were acquitted in a 1921 public trial but the first commissioner in baseball history, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, permanently banned all eight men from professional baseball. Jackson would be a lock Hall of Famer but still isn’t in because of the ban.

In modern history, the MLB hit king, Pete Rose, is also not in the Hall of Fame. In 1989, Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent place on baseball's ineligible list because it was proven he bet on baseball while manager of his Reds. Rose swears he never bet against his own team, but that’s hardly the point. Every year, Rose pleads for induction into the Hall of Fame, but it’s not going to happen in his lifetime.

Nowadays, baseball is no longer America’s pastime because the demographic skews so old. And popularity is waning each year. It’s a very regional sport now – extremely popular in individual markets (Boston, St. Louis) but not so much nationally. Younger generations find the game boring with a constant lack of action. MLB has talked about adding a pitch clock to speed things up; purists love that baseball is the only sport without a clock. However, a pitch clock has been shelved for now.

How To Bet Mlb Baseball

Baseball ranks third in popularity and in betting action these days in the USA behind football (both college and pro) and basketball (both college and pro). The one thing MLB has going for it, however, is that it owns the summer. The NFL season ends in February, and the NHL and NBA playoffs finish in June. That means MLB has the betting landscape largely to itself – compared to smaller sports like horse racing, MMA, tennis, golf, soccer, NASCAR, etc. – until football season begins in late August/early September.

Types Of Bets

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Because many baseball games are decided by one run, there is no point spread to bet. There are three main options for wagering on a game: moneyline, runline and over/under total.

The moneyline is the No. 1 wager and that’s simply a bet on which team wins the game. Doesn’t matter the score and doesn’t matter if the team wins in a game called after six innings due to rain or in a 22-inning marathon. Let’s use the Chicago Cubs visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers as an example. All things being equal, a home team is going to be favored on a moneyline because playing at home is a huge advantage – that team bats last. No visiting team can win in a “walk off.”

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All moneylines are based on a $100 wager, regardless of sport. In this example, the Dodgers could be -135 favorites with the Cubs at +115. That means, it takes $135 to return $100 on a Dodgers win, while $100 bet on a Cubs victory returns +110. Very rarely will a team be favored into the -400s on a moneyline. Incredibly rarely. Even -300s are somewhat rare.

The runline essentially is the spread and is always set at 1.5. In the above example, the Dodgers would be the favorite on the runline and thus -1.5 with the Cubs at +1.5. A moneyline price is attached to both options. Los Angeles at -1.5 would be around +150 with the Cubs at +1.5 at -180. The favorite on a runline is rarely also the moneyline favorite because so many games end by a one-run margin. It can happen, but the runline favorite will never be a massive moneyline favorite. If the Dodgers beat the Cubs 7-6, a runline bet on L.A. is a loser but a winner on Chicago. It’s that simple.

Finally, the over/under total. That’s total runs scored in the game, with both the over and under also given a moneyline price. Those prices are often the same (-110) or very close to so. In this example, the total could have been 8.5 runs, with the over at -120 and the under at even money. Totals are most influenced by each team’s starting pitcher. The weather (especially wind direction) and the home team’s ballpark also can influence the totals. Totals in MLB games generally are between 5.5-13 runs. The latter number usually only for games played in the thin air of Denver’s Coors Field.

Five-inning lines are another popular bet. This is simply which team is leading after five innings. The favorite to win the game will always be favored to be leading after five innings. It’s like betting on the first-half line in football.

Props/Futures Bets

No sport loves numbers more than baseball – so the betting options both in regards to futures and in-game are too many to mention. The primary team futures odds are to win the World Series, the pennant or a division. Over/under season wins. For individuals, popular markets are odds to win the MVP and Cy Young Awards in both the American and National Leagues. Which player leads the major leagues in homers? There are also over/under season totals (wins, homers, etc.) for a huge majority of players entering a season.

Baseball might be the best sport in the USA for live betting – simply because there is so much time in between pitches and the ball in play. It gives the bettor time to actually think, unlike in the NBA and NHL where the action is almost constant. Live betting could be the best thing to happen to baseball in decades. You can wager on just about everything live, whether a pitch is a ball or strike, will the batter get a hit, what type of hit, ground ball or fly ball, etc.

Betting Strategies

There is no one player in any of the four major American sports leagues that affects a moneyline than a starting pitcher in baseball. They are everything, even though starters are going shorter and shorter into games these days and some teams are using “openers.” Those are relievers who pitch the first inning, who then turn it over to the starting pitcher. Some managers believe it’s a statistical advantage for the starting pitcher to avoid the top half of the lineup one extra time if possible.

So, the No. 1 criteria for determining a bet on a baseball game should be each team’s starting pitcher, his current form and history against the opponent. The New York Yankees might have a much better overall team than the Boston Red Sox in a game, but if Boston’s best pitcher is going against the Yankees’ worst one, the Red Sox are going to be favored.

Certainly, the weather should be checked before betting on a total. No day-before totals are set at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, for example, because it’s a completely different park when the wind is blowing in as opposed to out. A very cold day is likely to lead to very few runs. No other sport in the USA is affected more by weather from a betting perspective.

One key term to remember for betting on MLB is a “getaway” game. This is when a team is concluding a long road trip. Let’s say the Yankees are on a 10-game road trip. Game No. 9 is played at 8 p.m. ET in Boston but the finale is at 1 PM ET the next day – and then the Yankees have to fly across the country for their next series. That matinee finale is a “getaway” game and when managers are most likely to rest a key starter or two because of the grueling travel and the fact the game takes place barely 12 hours after the previous night’s game. Very smart to bet against those road teams on a “getaway” game.

Notable Numbers

Since 2005, the largest moneyline favorite in Major League Baseball is believed to have been on June 4, 2016, when the Los Angeles Dodgers were -485 favorites over the Atlanta Braves. Why so high? Sure, the Dodgers were very good that year and the Braves not, but mostly because Dodgers ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw was on the mound and he was almost unhittable that year. Thus, it would have cost bettors $485 to win $100 on L.A. The Dodgers did win, 4-0.