The MLB is loved by many Americans and even quite a few people in other countries in North America, South America and even in some parts of Asia. Online bookmakers typically post odds the night before for MLB games and you can often find bookies that have reduced juice on MLB moneyline bets and over/under bets.
» Betting on the MLB
Most MLB handicappers will wager on moneyline bets, over/under bets and sometimes runline bets, but there are lots of other profitable MLB bets that we’re going to walk you through. For instance, some MLB very successful MLB handicappers focus on betting the 1st 5 innings of games only, as they don’t need to worry about handicapping the bullpens.
» MLB Moneyline Bets
- San Francisco Giants -148 vs. Florida Marlins +122
When you analyze a MLB moneyline bet the 1st thing you need to look at is the (-) and (+) sign in front of the odds. The (-) sign means that the team is favoured and you need to risk juice whereas the (+) means you get more than your initial bet back in profits alone. If we look at the MLB moneyline bet above we notice that the Giants are the favourites and by looking at the -148 odds we can tell that you need to bet $148 to win $100 profit. If you bet on the Marlins you need to only bet $100 to win $122, as they’re the underdog and have a (+) sign in front of the odds.
» MLB Runline Bets
- San Francisco Giants -1.5 +150 vs. Florida Marlins +1.5 -160
When you wager on the runline in MLB the team with the (-) in front of the runline needs to win by more than that amount of runs while the team with the (+) can lose by anything less than the runline. In the MLB runline example above the Giants need to win by at least 2 or more runs. If you bet on the Marlins they need to win or not lose by 2 or more runs, but it’s going to cost you more juice if you bet on a baseball team plus any number of runs in the MLB.
» MLB Over/Under Bets
- San Francisco Giants vs. Florida Marlins – Over 7.5 runs -110 / Under 7.5 Runs -110
Betting on the over/under in the MLB isn’t that difficult if you do your homework. You need to decide if both teams will score over or under the run total. By analyzing the pitching match-up and how well the line-ups have performs recently at the plate, you’ll be able to have a great chance at predicting whether a game will go over or under.
» MLB 1st 5 Innings Bets
In the MLB you’re allowed to bet on the 1st 5 innings only at most sportsbooks. It has its advantages because you don’t need to worry about bullpens, but it can also cost you in some games, but that’s all apart of betting. You can bet on the moneyline, runline and over/under during the 1st 5 innings of any MLB game at quite a few MLB sportsbooks.
» MLB Parlays
In the MLB you’ll often find moneyline bets with favourites over -150 odds and one way to lower the juice you risk is by betting on parlays. In a parlay you need to bet on at least 2 baseball outcomes and the payout odds will depend on the odds of the bets you put on the parlay, but the more games you bet the better the payout.
» MLB Futures
Most beginner handicappers don’t like tying money up in futures bets, but if you have a big enough bankroll you should look into them at the beginning of the MLB season. You can bet on futures such as picking the winner of the World Series, winner of the AL/NL Pennant and much more at various baseball sportsbooks.
» MLB Props
Certain MLB props are fun to bet on while watching a game, but they can also be a great way to profit from betting on MLB if you do your research. MLB prop bets can be on a wide range of outcomes, but a couple quick examples would be betting on A-Rod to get an RBI in a given game or betting on Halladay to strikeout over/under 4.5 batters in a given game.