Your Guide to Betting on Baseball in 2024

Moneyline Bets

If you’re not familiar with the term, a moneyline bet simply means that you are betting on which team will win the game outright, without any consideration for the final score. In MLB betting, a common moneyline offering might look like this:

• Boston Red Sox -170
• New York Yankees +160

We’ve used American odds, as they are the ones most commonly utilised when it comes to baseball betting. In the example here, the Red Sox are the favourite, with a bettor needing to wager $170 to win $100. Meanwhile, betting $100 on the Yankees will return a profit of $160 should they win the game.

Barring a cancellation for weather, there’s no need to worry about draws in baseball, so every bet typically resolves with a winner and a loser. This is a deceptively simple wagering system, with the key being to properly analyse each side’s chances of winning rather than attempt to find a “sure thing” – something that rarely, if ever, exists in baseball betting.

We’ve used American odds, as they are the ones most commonly utilised when it comes to baseball betting. In the example here, the Red Sox are the favourite, with a bettor needing to wager $170 to win $100. Meanwhile, betting $100 on the Yankees will return a profit of $160 should they win the game.

Barring a cancellation for weather, there’s no need to worry about draws in baseball, so every bet typically resolves with a winner and a loser. This is a deceptively simple wagering system, with the key being to properly analyse each side’s chances of winning rather than attempt to find a “sure thing” – something that rarely, if ever, exists in baseball betting.

Runline Bets

While straight bets on who will win a baseball game are certainly the most common wager, MLB betting does offer its own version of the point spread. Known as runline betting, this type of market requires the favourite to win by a certain number of runs in order to “cover the spread”.

In baseball, this number is typically set at 1.5 runs, meaning the favourite will win only if they win by two or more, while a bet on the underdog will pay out even if they should lose by a single run. Here’s an example:

• New York Mets -1.5 +110
• Philadelphia Phillies +1.5 -130

When considering how to bet on a runline market, make sure you consider not only the spread but also the odds on each side. Since the 1.5 run spread is almost universally used, it isn’t always seen as perfectly fair, and bookmakers will adjust the odds on each side accordingly. In the example above, the Mets are favoured to win the game. However, they are a slight underdog once the spread is considered, paying out $110 for every $100 you bet should they cover.

Five Inning Lines

Five inning lines are a type of moneyline wager that only considers the action of the first five innings of a nine-inning contest.

The only thing that matters for these bets is the score once the fifth inning concludes. Whichever side is ahead pays out as the winner, making these similar to halftime bets in football, basketball, or NFL betting.

Keep in mind that because a game might be tied after five innings, it is possible to push these bets.

Totals Bets

Also known as an over/under, a totals bet is a wager on the number of combined runs that will be scored by both teams in a single game. Typically, this total might be set anywhere between six and eight runs, based on the quality of the pitchers and the batting lineups involved in the game.

For example, should a total bet set at 7.5 runs, the over bet will win if the teams combine for at least eight runs, while under wagers will pay out should the teams combine to score seven runs or less.

Baseball Futures

Futures wagers are a very popular part of baseball betting. Many fans and gamblers like to take a flyer on a team winning their division, league, or the World Series well in advance. Odds on these bets can vary tremendously throughout the season, as the fortunes of various teams change.

These bets only resolve when the market is completed. In other words, while you can bet on who will win the World Series during spring training in March, it will not resolve until a team wins the championship in October.

Proposition Bets

Often called prop bets, these wagers aren’t as common as they are in American football, but they are still popular among bettors looking for alternatives to traditional baseball betting.

For instance, you may be able to bet on the number of home runs a batter will hit during the season, the number of wins a pitcher will accumulate, or which of two players will finish with a higher batting average.

World Series

The World Series is the most important championship in all of baseball, and it is annually awarded to the winner of the MLB playoffs. A total of ten teams – five each from the National and American leagues – enter the postseason, with one coming out of each league to contest the World Series in a best-of-seven series. The winner is considered the world champion, even if the competition only includes teams from the United States (and one team from Canada).

College World Series

NCAA baseball may not get the attention that college competitions in basketball or American football attract, but it is still popular among punters. NCAA baseball betting odds are available throughout the season, although most of the action centres on the College World Series, held each year in Omaha, Nebraska. The best college teams in the United States compete for the right to get to this stage, with the final two playing a best-of-three series to determine the championship.

Japan Series

Outside of the United States, the highest level of competitive baseball is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan. While NPB teams do not have the depth of talent seen in MLB sides, many star players in Japan are at the same level as their MLB equivalents and some of the top performers have made the transition from Japan to the United States during their careers. The Japan Series is the best-of-seven championship held annually between the winning teams of the two major leagues in Japan: the Central League and the Pacific League.

World Baseball Classic

International play is not as prestigious in baseball as it is in football, but this form of play has been making strides in recent years. The most important competition is the World Baseball Classic, which is held every four years and sees many of the world’s best players compete on behalf of their countries. In its first four incarnations, Japan won twice, while the Dominican Republic and the United States each captured one title. Other highly competitive nations include Cuba, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.