MLB Odds Explained

Those who are new to MLB betting might only be familiar with one or two types of betting. Aside from the more common betting types, like the moneyline, there are scads of other betting types available. We are now going to shed some light on the various ways to bet on Major League Baseball, starting with game lines and working our way up from there.

Major League Baseball Game Lines

We are now going to explain the three primary MLB game lines: the moneyline, the runline, and the over/under. Every day when you visit a sportsbook, you will see these game lines listed for each game of the day. As we mentioned earlier, because there are so many games in an MLB season, oftentimes there will be upwards of a dozen or more games per day. This variety makes MLB wagering particularly attractive to professional bettors.

Moneyline: This is the easiest, most basic and popular way to bet on Major League Baseball. Quite simply, it is a bet on who will win the game, nothing more, nothing less. There is no point spread involved. The numbers indicate how much money you will win. Betting on the favorite pays out less, and betting on the underdog pays out more. If this does not make sense yet, be patient. We will explain how to make sense of these numbers later on.

Runline: This type of game line is Major League Baseball’s version of the point spread, in which points are given to the underdog and taken away from the favorite. What you are actually betting on is whether a team can cover the spread, or in this case, the run line. The standard run line is 1.5, which means that the favored team must win by two or more runs, or the underdog must lose by one or more run in order to cover the line.

Over/Under: This type of game line is also known as a totals bet. It is a wager on the total number of runs in a game. What you are betting on is whether the actual number of runs will be greater or lesser than the total predicted by the bookmaker.

Now that we have gotten the three most common Major League Baseball betting types out of the way, let us look at some of the less common, albeit fun ways to bet on MLB. We will look at five-inning betting lines, MLB props, and MLB futures. Most online sportsbooks offer each of these MLB betting types in addition to the more popular game lines.

Five-Inning Betting Lines

One of the cool things about most sportsbooks is that you can bet on the first five innings of a baseball game, despite the fact that there is no official halftime in a Major League game. One of the reasons people like to bet on the first five innings is that they simply do not want to wait three hours for the game to end. Even more importantly, though, is that you do not have to worry about the bullpen screwing up your wager. Since the starting pitcher is usually kaput by the time the game is half over, a team uses its relief pitchers, who may not possess the same skills as the starting pitcher. Having to deal with a change in pitchers can really throw the game off and cost you your bet. One more thing about five-inning betting lines: you can bet the first five innings on the moneyline or the run line, which gives you even more wagering options.

MLB Prop Bets

Most sportsbooks let you bet on something called propositional bets, or props. This is a type of wager in that has nothing to do with the final score of a game, but rather deals with very specific aspects. The two major types of prop bets in Major League Baseball are player props and team props, each of which can be found in spades at most quality sportsbooks. Let us now shine a spotlight on the two most basic types of MLB props.

MLB Player Props: When you want to bet on a specific action by a specific player, this is an example of a player prop bet. For instance, a sportsbook might have several pitcher props listed at any given time, such as the total number of strikeouts by a certain player. Types of player props vary from events over the course of an entire season, during a single game, or even specific innings. Player props range from number of hits, runs, walks, batting average, who the year’s MVP will be, etc.

MLB Team Props: Similar to player props, team props focus on events related to a specific team. This could be anything from how many runs a team will score by the end of the fifth inning, how many strikeouts a team will have during the first inning only, or whether a team will more or less than a certain number of walks by the end of the seventh inning. People love team props because, like player props, there are so many different possibilities.

Futures odds in any sport are simply bets on a game that has not happened yet. In Major League Baseball, a few common types of futures odds are who will win the AL and NL Pennants and who will win the World Series. When you think about it, the World Series is the most important group of games in all of baseball, so the oddsmakers spend enormous amounts of time studying the past MLB scores and stats for all thirty teams in order to come up with the odds. In fact, most sportsbooks let you bet on World Series future odds at least six months in advance. These odds change like the wind due to the vast number of games that are played every single day during the regular MLB season.

How To Read The Odds

This section is geared toward those who have never bet before. While reading the odds may be second nature for pros, everyone has to start somewhere, and this is basic information that you need to understand in order to bet smart. This section will look at how to read the moneyline, run line, and over/under odds.

As we mentioned earlier, the most basic MLB bet is a moneyline wager, a.k.a. who will win the game. When looking at the moneyline, you will notice that each team will have either a positive or a negative number next to them. These numbers simply tell you how much money you will win based on multiples of one hundred. Let’s look at two examples: (1) The Chicago Cubs are the favorites to win a game, with moneyline odds of -140. What this is telling you is that if you were to wager $140 on the Cubs, you would win $100. (2) The Atlanta Braves are the underdogs, with moneyline odds of +105. This tells you that if you were to wager $100 on the Braves, you stand to win $105.

Next up, the runline. In Major League Baseball, the run line is the equivalent of the point spread (whereby the underdog receives points and the favorite loses points). In this case, though, it is runs that must be covered. Usually, you will see the run line listed at 1.5. Because of the half point difference, it is impossible for a tie to occur. If a team’s runline is -1.5, they are the favored team and would need to win by two or more runs in order to cover the line. On the other hand, if a team’s runline is +1.5, it means that they are the underdogs and must win the game straight up or lose by just one run.

Finally, we come to the over/under, otherwise known as totals betting, which is the total number of runs the bookmaker predicts will be scored by both teams together. You can bet either that the actual total will be less than the posted total or that it will be more than the posted total. For example, if the total is set at 7 ½, a wager of 8 or more would be betting on the over, and a wager of 7 or less would be betting on the under.

Okay, we have covered all our bases when it comes to explaining MLB odds, which leads us to our next question: Where to find quality online sportsbook with good MLB odds? Lucky for you, we have the answer. The following sites are the online MLB sportsbooks we believe do the best job of taking all the different elements of sports betting and combining them into one neat package. Each of these online sportsbooks is safe and legal, and each one features a multitude of terrific interactive features.