If you’re new to betting on MLB baseball games, you need a guide to show you the ropes and give you the best possible chance of making a profit. You’re reading that guide right now. Here you’ll find a small glossary, a rundown of MLB bets, and then external factors you should consider when casting your wager.
When you’re ready to start, you can find odds for the MLB on sites like https://www.fanduel.com/mlb-odds.
Important Terms
To begin, you should know these terms so you understand what’s going on:
- Chalk – This is a slang term for the favored team by oddsmakers.
- Dog – This is short for underdog, simple as that.
- Futures – Odds that are taken on events in the future.
- Listed Pitchers – The two starting pitchers participating in the game.
- Money Line – A simple bet on picking the winning team, with no consideration of points scored.
- Off The Board – This is rare. A game that isn’t able to be bet on for some reason.
- Over/Under – The predicted game score created by the sportsbook, where you can then bet on whether the score will be higher or lower. They are also known as totals or run lines.
- Push – The betting equivalent of a draw, you get your wager refunded.
- Spread – Typically used as a handicap in other sports, spreads are almost always 1.5 in MLB games. The favorite will be -1.5 and the underdog will be at +1.5.
- Top Half – Betting “the top half” is where bets only apply to the first five innings of the game.
Types of MLB Bets
To start, let’s focus on four common betting types you’ll see in the MLB.
First, there are money line bets. As you can see above, these are just predictions on which team will win.
Then there are spread bets, where a handicap is placed on each team. This is typically 1.5. If you wager on the +1.5 team then they need to win by two runs or more. If you wager on the -1.5 team then they need to win or lose by one run. Many advise against spread betting because one inning can change the entire game, making team sentiment largely irrelevant. Pitchers are also very important and can turn the tide of a game. The length of the baseball season also makes it difficult to forecast.
Then there are totals and game prop bets. Totals are where you bet on the score of a game exceeding or falling short of the over-under offered by the sportsbook. Game props are a type of bet where you’re not betting on the outcome of the game. Instead, you bet on a specific event in the game. For example, a bet on a player hitting a home run
Factors To Consider
When betting on MLB games, you have a lot of information to consider before you make your wager. These are the same factors the oddsmakers used when crunching the numbers and creating their lines, so beat the oddsmakers at their own game.
Here are the main things you should look at when placing bets:
Injuries
This one is relevant for every sport and baseball is no exception. Sports are played by players and players need to be healthy to deliver a good performance, it’s that simple. If a player, or even a star player, has been injured and can’t play a certain game, then it can drastically reduce their chances of success.
Weather
This is another classic consideration but for baseball, it’s really simple. Colder weather typically means there are fewer runs scored while hotter weather leads to more runs being scored.
Starting Pitchers
This is often considered the most important factor for affecting betting lines. A great starting pitcher typically increases the odds of one team winning the game while also limiting how many runs you can expect from the game. Of course, a team with a star pitcher can still lose.
Umpires
Similarly, you should also check out the umpires and their track record of favoring the pitcher or the hitter. Sites online track umpire tendencies and you can then use them to figure out how fav how favorable they’ll be to the pitchers and hitters of your targeted team.