After the most common wager types, legal online sportsbooks like Bovada and BetOnline will usually have a vast menu of MLB prop betting available for every single contest of the 4860-game Major League Baseball season. Prop bets, short for proposition bets, are wagers on events that may happen during a game, irrespective of the actual outcome of that game. Whereas the traditional “Big Three” wagers (moneyline, run line, and totals bets) address the totality of a given contest, prop bets – which can be player or team based – concern specific performance thresholds within that game.
MLB props are usually displayed as over/under-type wagers, but many are also of the “yes/no” variety. In all prop betting cases, however, the attached moneyline will give you all the information you need about the favored outcomes and how much cash each bet pays out.
With MLB player prop betting, you’re able to wager on things like how many innings a team’s starter will go, how many home runs a clean-up man (or any other player) will hit, which player will be first to get on base, whether or not some speedster will steal a bag, and so on. If there’s any noteworthy achievement that a single player might produce in the game, you can bet on it via player prop wagers.
Player props can be especially useful when a particular player is on a specific statistical tear, as MLB athletes all tend to be streaky, both on the mound and in the box.
MLB team prop betting is similar to player prop betting, with the exception that the outcomes you’re wagering on aren’t based on individual performances but instead concern full-team statistical achievements. When betting on MLB team props, you’ll be able to wager on things like which club will score first (or last), which team will have the lower combined ERA over the game, which bullpen will be utilized first, how many hits a given team will accrue, how many errors the defense might make, and more.
When it comes to MLB prop betting, team props are usually considered to be slightly “safer” than player props, as there’s usually less variability on a game-to-game basis for whole teams compared against individual players.