A Quick Introduction to Baseball Betting

For United States fans, the major sports are scarce during the dog days of summer. NBA and NHL wrap up their seasons and the NFL, NCAA basketball, and NCAA football haven’t started. It’s a frustrating time for sports gamblers looking to make a buck.

If you’re missing your favorite sports betting website or want to start sports gambling, try your hand at baseball betting. The MLB, MiLB, and NCAA baseball seasons keep going strong while the other popular American sports take a break.

Starting as a sports bettor is intimidating and can be confusing, but you don’t need to throw yourself into the deep end before learning to swim. Learning a bit before jumping in helps you avoid problem gambling such as chasing losses. Use this guide to baseball betting to get a leg up on other beginners.

Easy Moneyline Baseball Betting

Betting on the moneyline is the easiest option for people learning how to bet on baseball, or sports in general. The concept is beyond simple: You pick which team wins or loses.

Sportsbooks use both software and old-fashioned methods to calculate the odds for which team has the best chances of winning. The American system sets odds based on a base value of 100. 

Bookies write the favored team’s odds as negative—for example, the Tampa Bay Rays at -191,—while the underdog has positive odds—e.g., the Baltimore Orioles at +205. If you bet the Rays, you have to bet $191 to win $100 plus your original bet for a total of $291. If you bet the Orioles and they manage to beat the odds, you win $205 for every $100 you put down.

Hitting the Over/Under in Baseball

Betting on the over/under is what it sounds like. Oddsmakers study statistics and news to pick a number, and bettors decide whether they think the result will be over or under that figure.

The over/under applies to countless factors but there are two most common variants. First, you can bet the over/under on the total score for each game—adding the two teams’ runs.

It doesn’t matter whether the Los Angeles Angels score 9 runs against the Oakland Athletics’ 5 or the A’s do 9 on the Angels’ 5. The number is the same: 14.

Bookies set odds the same way they do for the moneyline, but they’re on the over and under instead of on who wins. For example, the odds might be -150 for over 14 and -110 for under 14. If the total is 14, you get your money back.

The other common over/under bet is on the total number of games won by a team. If you’re confident in a team, you might bet +130 that they win over 100 games. Bettors who don’t think they’re that good might bet -160 on the under.

An over/under style bet that’s a little less common is the prop bet. People wager on anything under the sun in prop bets. One silly, yet realistic example would be to bet on how many times Shohei Ohtani adjusts his pants during a game, set at over/under 8.

Going for the Baseball Point Spread

The final most common kind of sports betting is the point spread. This bet accounts for the difference between the winning and losing scores.

Say you go to a baseball betting website looking for odds on a Boston Red Sox/Miami Marlins match. The oddsmakers might think the Red Sox’s record suggests that they’ll crush the Marlins.

The score difference would be large, raising the spread. If the odds are Red Sox -7.5, Miami +7.5, the Red Sox would have to score at least 8, while the Marlins would need to lose by 8 or fewer runs. Of course, nobody can score half a run, so if the score is 8, the sportsbook keeps all the money.

The odds would be something like Red Sox -7.5: -160, Marlins +7.5: +200. The higher number on the Marlins suggests a low degree of confidence. 

Complications in Modern Baseball Betting

Some experienced gamblers suggest betting on baseball used to be easier. Picking a winner was as simple as looking at a team’s record. It wasn’t foolproof, as baseball has a large element of chance, but it gave you a pretty good idea of how to bet a game.

Nowadays, there are a whole bunch of complications bookies and bettors have to adjust to.

For one thing, modern players both pitch and hit as hard as they can. Pitchers throw most of their balls at over 100 MPH and batters have no goal except to knock it out of the park. That impacts gamblers in a few ways.

Throwing and hitting with that much power leads to injuries. They take players out of the game with little warning, and their statuses sometimes change right before the game starts. It’s hard to know who’s going to play, which can make all the difference between winning and losing bets.

Today’s zippy pitches have also led to a lot of strikeouts. MLB has one of the very lowest batting averages in its entire history. The hit and miss ratio is far from what old-school gamblers remember.

Then, you have the “sticky stuff” issue. MLB decided to crack down on the use of foreign substances that enhance pitching spin rate and, to a lesser extent, other aspects of performance. MLB made the move in the middle of the 2021 season.

The new policy has the potential to tank great pitchers’ stats if they relied on foreign substances. Sportsbooks and gamblers had to reevaluate teams’ skill levels. They changed their oddsmaking and betting strategies at the drop of a hat.

How to Place Smarter Baseball Bets

As you read, betting on baseball is tricky these days because it’s sometimes hard to know what to expect.

Still, betting on baseball is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding. Smarter baseball betting starts with paying attention to the sport and soaking up expert gambling tips.

Bookies, as well as cappers picks MLB and other sources of sports betting tips, tap into insider knowledge. They have contacts within the various leagues and get information about injuries, lineups, and other factors. Without their tips, you may struggle with betting on baseball.

Stay Informed Around Vegas

This basic information about baseball betting gives you the background you need to hit up a sports betting website or in-person sportsbook and get started.

If you want to keep up with more Vegas news, lifestyle tips, and business advice, this is the site for you. Click on another article to continue boosting your know-how.

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