Baseball Betting – Best Sites 2023

Baseball provides one of the largest pools of matches to bet on. The MLB alone features over 2,400 games during the regular season. Each team plays as many as 160 games, divided equally between home and visitor matches. You are spoiled for choices because you also have Baseball games from Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, and other countries.

Popular Baseball Betting Markets (Bet Types)

Baseball offers many matches and comprehensive betting markets to find value wagers. Most baseball bets resemble markets in other sports, such as soccer and American football. Still, they may come with different names and have slight variations due to the difference in the points system. Let’s take a closer look.

Money Line

Money line betting is the simplest way to bet on a baseball game, which implies backing a team to win. Baseball usually only has two possible outcomes for this bet because there is no room for a tie. Therefore, you can only pick either team to win.

For example, Betway offered a money line market for Wei Chuan Dragons vs. Rakuten Monkeys match with odds of 1.61 and 2.18, respectively. We say the Dragons are the favorite, while Monkeys are the underdogs. These odds can also be represented as -161 and +118 in American Odds. A 200 INR winning bet on Wei Chuan Dragons would be rewarded as 200 * 1.61, so you get 322 INR in your betting account.

Runline (Spread Betting)

A run line bet is the same as a spread bet or ATS (wagering Against The Spread). This Baseball market is similar to soccer’s handicap or NHL’s Puck Line. In baseball, the favorite is typically given something like a -1.5 runline, while the underdog is given a +1.5 with the odds. The lines do not change in this case as they often would in the NFL or NBA.

If you bet on the favorite to win the game, they must succeed with more points than they are handicapped. For instance, Betrophy offered a runline market for a Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics match as follows:

• Texas Rangers: -1.5 1.83
• Oakland Athletics: +1.5 1.89

In this case, the Texas Rangers are the favorites with 1.83 odds, while the Oakland Athletics are the dogs with 1.89. These odds lines do not change. However, if you are backing the Texas Rangers, you’d need them to win by at least 2 points. On the other hand, if you are supporting the Oakland Athletics, you’d need them to lose by no more than 1 point.

Over/ Under (Totals)

This bet works like over/unders in other sports. The bookie assigns an over/under number to the game, and you determine whether the total runs from both sides will add up to the betting site’s set figure. 8.5 runs are typical for totals markets in baseball, although you may encounter totals as low as 7 or up to 10. If you bet on over 8.5 points, you would need at least 9 points from the match to win.

Sportsbooks that offer totals consider factors such as ballparks, potential weather, location, and starting pitching matchups. You want to investigate the same to increase your chances of winning.

First Five Innings

Bookies offering baseball betting often allow punters to cash out after the first five innings instead of the full game result. This bet works similarly to the moneyline. Still, it is a more strategic option when your team of choice has a good starting pitcher, but you don’t have faith in the bullpen backing him up.

Props

Proposition bets are shared across several sports. They are betting markets that let you wager on the proposition of an event to occur or not. These wagers typically focus on statistical metrics such as hits, home runs, strikeouts, and stolen bases for particular players or teams.

Prop bets come in the form of player props or team props. Team props include markets such as:

• The first team to score in the game
• A run scored in the first inning
• The first team to get to three runs
• Total runs for a specific team
• Total hits, runs, or errors for both teams

Popular player props include the following:

• Number of hits, runs, or RBIs for a particular player
• Total strikeouts
• Most hits, runs, or RBIs for Player A vs. Player B
• Most Strikeouts for pitcher A vs. pitcher B
• The player hits a home run

Parlays (Accas)

Parlays are accumulator bets that let you bundle your punts. Creating a betting slip with two or more chances increases the overall value of your stake. The more picks included in your accas, the higher the odds become. However, parlays are more challenging to win than moneyline bets because all the selections on your slip have to hit.

Futures

Betting on baseball futures is extremely popular in the preseason period, during which other markets for your favorite league are not yet out. It involves outright markets, such that bettors predict the team winning a particular division, league, or world series. These offers present delayed gratification, but payouts can be high.

In-Play Betting

Baseball is big on live bets, where you bet on specific events once the match is in play. The lines and odds for in-play bets are updated in real time according to the action. For example, you can bet on a team to score a given number of home runs in a specific inning or whether it will win that inning. The markets for in-play are limited, but you will usually get a good mix of player and team props.

Baseball Betting Tips

Stay Away from Big Favorites

Novice punters often prefer favorites that also happen to be popular teams, such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs. However, bookies always offer extremely short odds for such favorites, so betting on them increases your chances of losing over time. This is because you only get small winnings when things go your way but lose big when it doesn’t work out.

Wager Against the Public

The general population always bets according to their gut feeling. They will back a team that looked great last season, a home team, or a popular name in the league. However, these biases attract inflated numbers in sportsbooks, resulting in low-value bets. In any case, the house always wins, so you could benefit by standing with your bookie by betting against the general public.

Consider the Forecast

Considering the weatherman can significantly increase your chances of winning because the weather influences many performance metrics in baseball. For example, statistics show that the underline consistently lands 55.1% of the time when the wind blows toward the batters at a minimum of 5 mph. Additionally, strong winds lead to more outs and fewer runs as homers drop short or into the hands of the outfielders.

Know the Umpires

Knowing the umpire can help you predict certain match events, especially considering their human nature. For example, some umpires may have tight strike zones, resulting in significantly more scored runs and overs hit.

An umpire may also be inclined to curve under pressure and bend to the crowd’s will, which could benefit the home team. This information may not be enough to determine your bet, but it could offer invaluable insight.

Shop for the Most Value

You want to shop for the best odds across betting sites to get the most value for your money. However, sticking to a single bookie leaves you vulnerable to the limited selections presented while possibly missing out on excellent opportunities. Consider opening multiple betting accounts with different bookies so you can always shop around to increase your payouts and diminish your losses over time.

Keep a Record

The best way to learn fast is to keep a detailed record, allowing you to learn from your previous wins and mistakes. Your records should include dates, teams selected, markets, odds, and outcomes. It also helps to add comments concerning any lessons picked up on the way.

Advanced Baseball Metrics to Keep in Mind

Sports have grown more analytical over the years. Bookmakers use many statistics to determine their odds in various markets, affording long-term house wins. Still, you can use the same metrics to try and gain an edge over betting sites. Here are a few important ones to keep in mind:

• Pythagorean wins: the number of games a team should win based on its total runs scored vs. the number of allowed runs. The formula is (runs scored^2) / [(runs scored^2) + (runs allowed^2)], and it has proven more predictive than basic winning percentage calculations.
• Field Independent Pitching: this is an advanced analysis of the expected run average (ERA). It accounts for walks, home runs, hits, and strikeouts while eliminating the fielding aspect from the equation to cater to the fact that pitchers have no control over subsequent events after the ball is in play.
• Weighted Runs Created (wRC): a method that adjusts the statistic runs created to account for vital external factors, such as ballpark and league average, which helps estimate a player’s runs based on his range of offensive numbers.

Top Baseball Tournaments to Bet

MLB Playoffs

MLB is arguably one of the most famous baseball competitions in the world. However, the MLB Playoffs postseason is the most-watched baseball tournament worldwide. The elimination tournament involves 12 teams and attracts over 10 million viewers.

World Baseball Classic

The WBC is an international tournament organized by Major League Baseball and the International Baseball Federation, aiming to increase baseball’s popularity globally. It only started in 2006, during which Japan emerged as the winner. This tournament is the only international competition featuring Major League players.

Olympics

Baseball joined the Olympics in 1900 when the sport was only regarded as a track and field session. However, pro players are not allowed into the tournament. The 2020 finals attracted 48.32 viewers from Japan alone.

Asia Professional Baseball Championship

This international baseball tournament was founded in 2017 by the World Baseball Softball Confederation in conjunction with the Chinese Professional Baseball League, the Korea Baseball Organization, and the Nippon Professional Baseball League.

FAQs

What is the best bet in baseball?

Baseball enjoys varied betting markets that ultimately depend on a bettor’s preferences. The most popular among beginners are moneyline bets and totals (over/unders).

Can I bet on college baseball?

Yes, you can bet on college baseball, depending on your location and that of the team. Still, it is less popular among punters than the professional tournaments. In New York, for example, it is illegal to bet on any college baseball games within the state or any New York colleges with matches outside the state.

Is baseball betting the same as NFL/ NBA sports betting?

The betting markets in baseball closely resemble other sports but may be popular under different names. For example, over/unders are called totals in baseball, while spreads are called runlines. However, the concept remains the same. You will quickly understand baseball markets if you can bet on another sport.

What is a favorite and an underdog in baseball betting?

The favorite is the team a bookie predicts will most likely win. It is easily identifiable by looking for the team with the shortest odds. On the flip side, the underdog, also called the dog, is the team that is less likely to win and is characterized by high odds.

Last Updated on 26/05/2023 ago by Devak Mukherjee