MLB Baseball Betting Strategy

Baseball is the great summer sport of the United States, and the 162 game regular season of Major League Baseball, running from April to September, offers many betting opportunities to the sportsman. The most important person in a baseball game is the pitcher, which is why no baseball betting line is posted without naming the starting pitcher. Both starting pitchers much make at least one pitch for the game to be considered "action". If there is a change of one or other of the starting pitchers, all runline and total bets are voided and the stakes returned, while an odds adjustment takes place on the moneyline prices.

Houston: W Miller +1.5 -190
St Louis: M Morris -1.5 +160

In the example above, Houston, with Wade Morris as their pitcher, is the underdog, as indicated by the plus (+) sign in the runline. These figures mean that anyone betting on Houston wins if Houston either wins or doesn’t lose to St Louis by more than 1.5 runs. The second number, -190, is the price – this means that the if Houston wins or doesn’t lose by more than 1.5 runs the bettor wins $100 for every $190 wagered.

In the second line St Louis, with Matt Morris as their pitcher, must win by more than 1.5 runs for the bet to win. In this event, the bettor wins $160 for every $100 wagered.

Baseball betting offers markets in the moneyline, runline (the same principle as pointspread betting) and totals. The game must go to the losing team’s 5th inning at least for the moneyline to be considered "action". In runline or totals betting, the game must go to nine innings (or 8.5 if the home team is ahead) to be considered "action". Extra innings will count in the final result for all bets.