A Look at MLB Betting Markets

MLB betting markets offer a near unlimited number of wagering opportunities.

– MLB bettors have a large number of markets from which to choose.

– The number of bets available to the MLB bettor is huge because of the large number of markets and the vast amount of games.

If you’re not betting on baseball, you should be. The 162-game season means that there are numerous opportunities to find betting value. 

With 2,430 games in the regular season plus the postseason, MLB bettors can take advantage of a wide variety of betting markets. Unlike sports like NFL football and NBA basketball, baseball is more of a moneyline sport.

That’s not the only market available though. With the number of markets and games, bettors can enjoy a long profitable season if they take the time to do it right.

With the lack of scoring in baseball, it makes more sense to bet on winners instead of the point spread (which we will get to in a minute). Let’s use an example.

Los Angeles Dodgers -175

St. Louis Cardinals +155

The Dodgers are favored here and if you like them to win you would wager $175 to win $100. If you like the underdog Cardinals for the upset, you would wager $100 to win $155.

If you’re betting MLB moneylines, the trick is to find strong moneyline underdogs. Betting on favorites all the time will put you in the hole.

When you bet the point spread in baseball, you are betting on the MLB run line. There isn’t as much scoring in baseball, so oddsmakers establish a run line of 1.5. In very rare cases, that run line might be 0.5 or 2.5, but it doesn’t happen often.

Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 (+150)

St. Louis Cardinals +1.5 (-170)

To cover, a favorite must win by at least two runs. In this case, if you liked the Dodgers to win by two or more you would wager $100 to win $150. For the underdog to cover, the Cardinals would have to lose by one or win outright. Bettors would lay $170 to win $100 on St. Louis.

Run lines are a great bet in situations where you can get a better price on a big favorite. Let’s say the Dodgers were a -280 favorite on the moneyline and -150 favorite on the run line. If you like the Dodgers, you can take advantage of the better price. L.A. does have to win by two though to win the bet.

Betting MLB totals is another great market in MLB betting. If you don’t like a particular side, you can always check out the game total. When betting MLB totals, the keys are the pitching matchups and weather. 

It also helps to have some knowledge of key numbers in baseball. More games in MLB end with final scores that total 7, 9, and 11 than any other numbers. Knowing this can help in betting totals.

Typically, totals odds are -110 though there are times when oddsmakers will raise or lower the juice. It’s very rare to see totals odds higher than -130.

One of the huge markets now in MLB betting is team and player props. Bettors can take advantage of betting on a player hitting a home run, the number of strikeouts a pitcher will have, and much more.

Pairing a prop with a moneyline, run line, or totals bet is an effective MLB betting strategy. If you liked the Dodgers-Cardinals game to go Under 6.5 because of the pitching matchup you might wager on L.A. pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s strikeouts prop too.

Many MLB bettors think the futures market is limited to just the World Series. Bettors can find much more than just that in the MLB futures market.

There are wagers on AL and NL champions as well as division winners. There are also all of the different individual awards markets as well – Cy Young winners, league MVP, and more.