Spring is upon us and god damn if this isn’t the best time of year. Birds chirping, flowers blooming, and the sound of baseballs cracking off the bat ARE ALL BACK. But in all seriousness, gambling baseball can be tons of fun and is one of the sports where you can actually make some money.
Bets
The most common bets for baseball are similar to any team sport; money line, over/under and spread. The biggest difference in baseball is that there can be huge variation between games.
Money Line:
When looking at the money line on a game, the biggest factor is the Starting Pitching matchup. This is why there is such variance game to game. Starting lineups tend to be similar day in and day out, but the talent from pitching match up to pitching matchup can vary significantly, even when one team might have a significantly better record than another.
Over/Under
A teams offense is obviously a factor as well, especially when it comes to gambling and over/under. The average number of runs scored in a game in 2017 was 9.2 runs per game. Two things to consider: American League teams average more runs than National League teams, Star players frequently take games off and the over/under is set based on the anticipated line.
Strategy
So many games, so many ways to bet. Ride the best pitchers, stick with the best offense and hope to win more than you lose, gamble a series, road trip, home stand etc. But the way to cash in on baseball is to ride win streaks. It’s not uncommon for a team to consistently win 2/3 in a row then lose – repeat. But if you jump on a winning streak, and jump on it early, you can cash in. Every so often you’ll catch a team that wins 5, 6, 11, 14 in a row – and this is where to money starts to pile up. Give it a shot.
Another one. Follow the Sharp (professional) money. People make a living gambling baseball. The professionals know the game so much better than we could comprehend, follow whats called reverse line movement. Money favors one way while the line moves towards the other way.
Pre Season Odds to Win World Series
Source: Bovada
Pre Season Odds to Win AL/NL
