Helpful Tips for Betting on Baseball
Baseball has officially arrived! There are thousands of games on the slate this spring and summer, which means that there are plenty of opportunities to wager on. With baseball controlling the warmer months of the year, it becomes one of the only choices of major sports to bet on.
But how do you bet on baseball? What if you aren’t familiar with MLB betting odds? Thankfully, with a few helpful tips, you can find yourself feeling like an expert when it comes to baseball betting. Let’s read on and find out more about how these tips can benefit you.
Road Dogs
Most bettors tend to lean toward the favorites. If the Orioles are -200 against the A’s, for instance, it can be enticing to take what seems like an easy win. But the baseball season is a long one and anything can happen on any given day.
Sure, the favorite might win more often but with a meager return, even hitting at a 60% clip can have you turning up a loss. That is where road divisional underdogs can really be the best play. They will have favorable odds, for starters.
But the thing to consider is the return. You can hit roughly 40% of the time and still turn a profit betting on road underdogs. With bigger returns for each win, you don’t have to win nearly as often to come out ahead of the game.
Avoid home run lines
Speaking of those big favorites, bettors try to improve their payout by taking the run line instead of the money line. Maybe instead of the aforementioned -200 on the Orioles, you take the run line and get -110 or something similar.
The problem is that the home team, if they are winning, doesn’t get as many at-bats as the road team. If the home team is winning through 8 innings, they may not have the extra opportunity needed to drive in that run that wins the bet.
If you want to go with the run line, take the underdog. They’ll have more at-bats and are more likely to deliver. At the very least, having more at-bats can give you a built-in advantage, particularly in close games.
Weather matters
Because baseball is played in the warmer months, it can be easy to dispel conditions. After all, baseball isn’t played in heavy rain or snow, so those don’t typically impact the overall quality of play that you see in a game.
But wind and temperature can. Windy days, in particular, can play havoc. Balls die far shorter of the wall than they normally would, making it tougher to generate offense. On the other side of the equation, balls travel further when the temperature is hotter. Take a quick glance at the weather and know whether it has the potential to impact the final score.
Think of the long-term
It was covered a bit in the space above, but you need to remember the long-term. Cold and hot streaks happen all the time and it can be too easy to focus on recent results rather than the big picture. But in order to be successful, you need to win over a long period of time.
It can be tough to undergo dry spells but if you know what you are doing, the results will be there over the long term. Keep your eye on the big picture and try to create a positive return over that period. Don’t necessarily concern yourself with the win-loss record but instead focus on the units won or lost throughout the course of the season.