Baseball presents the bettor with a variety of different betting options. Since the sport is extremely statistics-laden, it allows for bettors to move past casual wagering and into the realm of expert betting. What’s more, it’s also a sport that allows for betting experts to provide a comprehensive analysis and betting tips service to beginners.
Learning how to bet on the MLB is all about learning how to read and analyse MLB odds. MLB bets range from ordinary moneyline bets, i.e. picking an outright winner as one would in most other team sports such as hocky, basketball, rugby union, etc., to more intricately analysed runline bets – being baseball’s version of the point bet spread.
Here are just some of the popular MLB bets available to baseball betting enthusiasts.
Betting On MLB Totals
In order to register a winning bet when betting on MLB Totals, the baseball bettor must predict whether the total combined number of runs scored by both teams will be more or less than the number set by the bookmaker. Predicting that this Totals number will be 8 or more is called an OVER bet, and predicting that it will be 7 or less constitutes an UNDER bet.
A variety of factors have bearing on this particular outcome, including weather conditions, ballparks, the strength of each team’s pitching profile, etc. Bookmakers’ oddsmakers will take all of this into account when setting the MLB Totals number, and so should bettors wanting to make a prediction in either direction.
Futures Betting On Championships
A favourite for MLB Futures betting is obviously the annual World Series.
What a Futures bet does is to create an entire experience between the fan and the team and/or players that lasts all year long. This being “invested” over a lengthy period of time is not only a fantastic learning curve for beginners, but also a potential opportunity to make huge sums of money from betting on the ultimate MLB underdog for a particular year.
Other MLB events available for Futures betting include the Cy Young, the National League, and the American League Championship.
Prop Bets For Maximum Fun
Prop bets are all about variety and having fun while engaging with a favourite sport, team, or even individual player.
Prop bets are basically betting on milestones – and milestones that may or may not have direct bearing on the eventual outcome of a game.
Examples include:
- The number of bases to be stolen by a particular player;
- How many RBIs a particular player will have;
- How many home runs a certain player will score;
- The number of strikeouts predicted for a specific player; etc.