How To Bet On MLB
Major League Baseball seasons run longer than league seasons for every other professional sport in the US, lasting six months. During those six months, the league offers thousands of preseason, regular season, and postseason games for bettors to enjoy. By extension, legal sportsbook apps in the US ensure that American baseball fans can explore tonnes of betting opportunities on their favorite sport.
Is MLB Betting Legal In The US?
Betting on the MLB is legal in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New Jersey, and other states. Luckily, placing stakes on your favorite baseball team and betting on the next inning or the best pitcher is not limited to just these states. Bettors can go to retail sportsbooks or visit mobile sportsbook apps from wherever they are, with the only requirement being that you are above the legal gambling age.
Just when you thought the most exciting thing was seeing your favorite team play live, you can now watch your team in action and simultaneously place wagers from your phone right there in the stands. From Wrigley Field to Nationals Park, MLB betting remains 100% safe, fun, and legal.
How To Read MLB Lines, Odds, And Bets
Moneyline
Without a doubt, moneyline bets are the most popular sports bet options for MLB fans. With that in mind, it’s great that so many US legal sportsbook apps offer loads of MLB moneyline bets. When you place a moneyline bet at any of these operators, you’re simply staking your money on one team to win.
With this bet type, the team considered favorite to win the game carries the (-) symbol, while the team that’s less fancied for the win, or the underdog, will take the (+) symbol. The number that accompanies the minus sign represents the amount a bettor must wager to win $100. The number next to the plus sign signifies the amount a bettor will receive if they wager $100.
Round Robins
Round-robin bets on MLB games consist of two-team parlay bets from a mix of between 3 to 8 teams. As with most parlays, more bets equal bigger payouts. Bettors can make combination parlays involving 2-6 different MLB teams with round-robin bets.
For example, assume that the bettor fancied the Cubs, Red Sox, and Giants before their individual MLB matches. Most parlays would involve combining all three games into one or simply betting on each game separately. However, a round-robin bet sees all three teams merged to form 3 two-team parlays;
- Cubs – Red Sox,
- Cubs – Giants,
- Red Sox – Giants.
This way, even if just one of the three teams lost, rather than losing the entire bet as you would with a usual parlay, you still make some decent profit. If all three teams win, then you earn even more.
Totals
Legal sportsbooks in the US set totals for each MLB game. Bettors can then wager on whether the total combined runs scored by both teams will go under or over the sportsbook’s prediction. Usually, games that feature offensive firepower will have totals as high as 11.0, whereas games that have top-class starting pitching and average offenses are set as low as 6.5.
One thing to note is that, unlike moneylines, before a Totals can count as a win, it must go the whole nine innings, notwithstanding if the game ends prematurely due to weather conditions and other reasons.
Futures
As its name suggests, this form of betting involves wagering on a specific occurrence that you predict will happen in the future. Common MLB futures bets include predicting the team to win each league, the team to win their respective divisions, the player to win the MVP award, and many more.
Something to note about futures is that the earlier you place your wager, the bigger the potential payout will be if your prediction is correct. Placing a futures bet on a player to win MVP before the season begins will pay higher than placing that same bet after the season is underway.
How Do I Bet On The MLB World Series
The moneyline is one of the most popular betting types during the MLB World Series, though it comes with a little more risk at that stage of the season. Many bettors choose to avoid the difficulty of picking the moneyline between teams, instead opting to wager on the total scoring outputs with Total bets. Betting on the point spread is also quite popular among bettors during the World Series.
Essential Tips To Become A Smarter MLB Bettor
- Do Your Research
Statistics are essential in MLB, and you must carry out team-specific research to settle on potential betting spots that can bring you profit throughout the season. Well carried out research will help you get familiar with different teams, what they’re great at, and what they struggle with. Knowing these details could go a long way in making more intelligent wagers.
- Analyze Pitching Formations
Starting pitchers play a crucial role in baseball, so you must know the starters of every team you’re wagering on or against. However, starting pitchers in MLB don’t remain on the mound throughout the game, which is why you must review the bullpen’s quality and explore results from the most recent games. This analysis helps you figure out the pitching formations to target and the ones to avoid.
- Avoid Big Favorites
Bookmakers are well aware that casual bettors prefer to bet on the big favorites, so they tend to adjust their lines suitably in a bid to profit from this public bias. Clubs like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs are heavy favorites more often than not, so most recreational bettors will wager on them irrespective of how the oddsmakers set the lines. What this means is that if these teams win, the reward is small. And if they lose, well, there’s no reward at all. Essentially, you should avoid betting on these big ball clubs whenever you can.
