How To Bet On Baseball – Betting Guide 2024

Which Different Ways Can You Place Baseball Bets?

Money Line

Without a doubt, the most common way to bet on baseball is through a money line bet.  This simply predicts which team will win, so it is the easiest wager to place. With minimal research, you can decide who is most likely to win the game.

For example:

• The Los Angeles Dodgers 6/1
• The San Diego Padres 4/1

If The Dodgers win, you will get your stake back as well as six times its amount. In contrast, if The Padres win, you would get your stake back as well as four times its amount.

To make the most of a money line bet, you should research which bookmaker has the best odds.

Run Line (Point Spread)

The point spread is a popular market offered by betting sites. It is the margin by which a team must win for your bet to succeed. In turn, this evens out the field if one of the teams is clearly much more capable than the other. In baseball, this is termed the run line and is essentially a handicap bet.

This could look like:

• New York Yankees -1.5, 5/2
• Miami Marlins +1.5, 7/4

If you bet on The Yankees, they would need to win by 2 points for your wager to be successful, whilst if you bet on The Marlins, they could lose by 1 point and your wager would still be successful.

Totals Betting

The team total is pretty simple, and is a betting site favourite. It is basically an Over/ Under bet, where the bookmaker will state how many overall points they think will be scored in the game, and you as the punter will decide if it will be under or over that number.

For example:

	ODDS
Under 8.5 Points	130
Over 8.5 Points	110

If the score for Chicago White Sox versus Texas Rangers was 5-3, the total points would be 8 and therefore the under wager would win. If it was 6-3, the total points would be 9 and therefore the over wager would win.

Parlay

A parlay bet, otherwise known as an accumulator bet, is when you create one cohesive wager made up from multiple individual bets. Although we will later go on to discuss why you should generally avoid these, there are some instances when a betting site will offer an enticing parlay bet. Take advantage of these when:

• You are well-versed in the betting market
• There are enhanced odds promotions
• Acca insurance is offered by the bookmaker
• You can group many low odds bets together

Live Betting

Many contemporary betting sites have a unique feature called in-play betting. This allows you to place wagers whilst the baseball games are still live, hence you can take advantage of the opportunity. Examples include:

• When a player is injured, this will hurt their odds and so you can bet accordingly
• Totals betting is made easier as you score more runs

This goes hand in hand with livestreaming, which is ideal for Irish punters who hanker to watch global baseball games.

How Do You Profit from Baseball Betting Sites?

Below are listed the best strategies to bet on baseball.

Use Promotions to Your Advantage

Now we are informed on how to bet on baseball, we can begin to consider ways in which to make the largest profit margin. The main strategy is utilising promotions, and welcome bonuses are a particularly easy way to capitalise on free extras.

PROMOTIONS & OFFERS	EXAMPLE
Free Bonuses	In baseball, you can get free bonuses as part of a welcome offer, seasonal promotion or surprise bonus. This will give you cash you can use only on baseball wagers; however, you can consider this a riskless bet. As placing a stake will not technically use up any of your money, the earnings you receive will be all be profit.
Early Cash Out	When betting sites offer early cash out, this means you can take a portion of your earnings before the game is over. No matter the outcome of the baseball match, you can take your reward whilst you are still ahead. This is useful when you have a sneaky feeling the game will take a turn for the worst.
Acca Insurance	When you place a parlay (acca) bet, you are choosing the riskiest type of wager. For instance, you may place a money line bet as well as point spread. Because all of the individual bets of your wager must come true for you to turn a profit, these wagers are often unsuccessful. Conversely, when you have Acca insurance, there is room for error.

Make Informed Decisions

Betting sites are designed to be unpredictable; whilst they can make you a huge profit when you make smart wagers, they can also be detrimental to your finances if you don’t think clearly.

By making informed decisions in baseball, this could mean a number of things.

• Recent Performance: the recent performance of an individual baseball player, as well as how the team are placing overall, are important for making a good bet. If a team has been performing differently to usual, consider why this is and how it will affect their placement in the league.
• Weather Conditions: although the weather affects both teams and doesn’t make much difference in money line bets, it will definitely have an impact on the number of runs. If you are placing a bet on totals, rain or wind will make this significantly lower than a sunny day.
• Injuries: most betting sites will show you which baseballers will be playing for their team. Studying the line up will give you a good idea of how well they will perform. For example, if a good pitcher is being substituted due to an injury, this may affect the entire game.
• Umpires: whilst umpires are impartial, it is worthwhile checking who will be mediating the game, as some are more lenient that others.

Compare The Odds of Different Betting Sites

Every bookmaker will set different odds for a game, and have a ranging number of markets. In order to get the largest profit margin, you should aim to research multiple betting sites, hence finding the best odds. For example:

• Betting site A: 7/1
• Betting site B: 9/1
• Betting site C: 4/1

Betting site B would be the obvious choice, because the odds are the most favourable to you as the punter. You would get nine times your deposit, as well as your stake back.

Avoid Accumulator Bets Wherever Possible

We understand that accumulator (parlay) bets are enticing, because their payout is comparatively larger than a normal bet. However, this is because the odds of all of your legs winning are much lower than if you were to place an individual wager. If you do decide to combine multiple markets, ensure you either have acca insurance or you are placing low odd bets that are likely to happen.