By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-10-11 03:51:15 | Word Count: 546
Although it numbers among the top few heavily bet on sports out there, baseball is somewhat different from football and basketball, which is why it requires using a distinctive betting strategy.
One of the main particularities of baseball wagering is that it doesn’t involve point spreads – since the typical MLB match rarely totals more than eight or nine scored runs, baseball spreads would be useless. Instead, most of the action in baseball betting revolves around money line wagers and straight bets, with both types requiring the bettor to keep a close eye on baseball lines and the baseball odds set based on them.
[ advertisement ]
Money line and straight bets require the player to come up with a prediction of which team will score the most runs in a given match up, irrespective of the actual margin of victory. A typical money line wager set for a particular MLB clash might look like this:
Team A (+120)
Team B (-140)
In the example presented above, Team B is rated as favorite, fact that is signified by the minus figure next to it. To collect $100 wagering Team B to win, the bettor would in fact need to wager $140; by contrast, betting the underdog to win could earn the bettor $120 with an investment of only $100. Money line bets like the one shown here have no vigorish attached to them, but still involve a kind of fee tied to the baseball odds set by the bookmakers.
In baseball, the type of bet that resembles point spreads the most is the run line bet. With such wagers, the favored team is usually set at -1.5 runs, which means it must win by a minimum of two runs in order for you to collect the wager prize. The team rated with the second chance in the game is listed at +1.5 runs, which means it must win or lose the confrontation by a single run for you to win your run line wager backing that particular team.
Baseball odds like those specified above also come with a money line figure attached to them, which is determined based on the straight line initially set on the game. In respect to over/ under wagers placed in baseball, they follow the same pattern as total wagers found in sports like football and basketball.
Another feature that is unique to baseball betting involves guessing the starting pitchers for a particular team. Unlike a football or basketball team that generally tends to maintain the same lineup for every game, a baseball team will very likely change its starting pitchers from one match to another. The exact names and order of the starting pitchers can be difficult to predict, since MLB squads usually field their starting pitchers on rotation, with each of these players pitching once every five days on average.
Given that the very first pitcher who enters the field for a particular team has a major influence not only over the outcome of that game, but also over the way baseball lines are set, wagers that require guessing the name of that starting player can prove very profitable.
