Tips and Strategies for Live Betting Baseball

Live betting baseball can net you a ton of profit. But buyer beware.

Key Points

– Smart bettors stick to their strategies for live betting baseball.

– One of the best characteristics a live baseball bettor can have is patience.

Baseball bettors have numerous opportunities to win big. There are the traditional bets – moneyline, spread, and totals – as well as a wide variety of props on every game. 

Where the action is now is in live betting on baseball. It’s fun. It’s fast-paced and smarter bettors can capitalize on some great odds on in-game wagers. The key is simply understanding where to look and where to find value. 

Here are some tips and strategies for live betting baseball. These tips will help you win betting on baseball.

Sportsbooks typically update odds when there are breaks in the action. Baseball is a bit different from other sports in that it is much slower-paced. Sportsbooks will still wait until the end of an inning to update odds depending on the bet, of course. 

Bettors should recognize this and be patient. Yes, the action is a little faster than placing a pre-game bet and waiting until the game has finished; but bettors can take their time as they look for value.

One strategy that live baseball bettors can use is this. Let’s say you like the home team. You want to back the home team and a very good starting pitcher.

In a live betting situation, you’re looking for a game where the road team scores early. You still have your starting pitcher at home. Using that patience mentioned above, you wait for the game’s moneyline to shift.

The move might happen during the inning, but you may have to wait until the end of the inning to find better odds. Often, bettors will find plus-money odds on a very good home team with one of its best pitchers on the mound. 

Live bettors can wager on whether or not the next batter will get a hit. This is a category where the bettor needs to do some homework. It pays to know how the hitter has done against the pitcher during his career. You can use the same homework as when you’re handicapping MLB run lines.

It also pays to know that the average major league hitter will get a hit less than three times in ten at-bats. The MLB batting average for all batters is roughly .250. 

Knowing that piece of information, bettors stand to win more often when they bet against a batter getting a hit. That is not always the case though. There are situations where bettors can turn long odds into big wins.

Let’s say you have an ace pitcher on the mound and he will be facing the No. 7, 8, and 9 hitters in the opponent’s batting order. The No. 8 hitter is getting +500 odds against this ace, but for his career that No. 8 hitter is batting .323. This is a situation where the smarter bettor finds a value opportunity to take advantage of.

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If you are going to be the bettor that bets on the next at-bat, then you should focus on that wager. Maybe you focus on one or two more, but the point is simply that you cannot do it all. 

There are numerous live bets offered in a typical MLB game. Many of them, like the next at-bat wager, require some knowledge and some research. You can’t research everything and expect to do well placing one live bet on the next at-bat and then a bunch of others in different categories.

If you want to have success in live betting baseball, pick a few wagers and focus on them solely. You will win more of those bets as compared to haphazardly choosing live bets.

Did you see our other article that focused on tips for handicapping baseball.

Bettors must watch the games they are live betting. This is an absolute must. Bettors see the game in real time and get a feel for what is happening. That helps when making live wagers. 

Live betting on baseball games that a bettor is not watching is pretty much the same as betting blindly on a roulette wheel. If you’re live betting, have the game on in front of you. Your winning percentage and bankroll will thank you.

Live bets are great for hedging a pre-game bet that looks like it is going south. The problem is that live bettors will wager on that same pre-game team in hopes of a comeback. Then, they get themselves on a slippery slope and that is never good. Don’t hurt yourself when you’re on tilt.

Don’t chase a loss with live bets.

Stick to your strategy.

Stick to your budget.

That might be focusing on a few different live bets. It may be focusing on favorites that are trailing early. Whatever your live betting strategy, stick to it and don’t chase your losses.