MLB Odds and Betting Lines

MLB Betting Odds

Have you ever glanced at an odds table and felt like you were deciphering ancient hieroglyphics? Don’t worry, understanding the odds is much simpler than it seems. Whether you’re a newbie to baseball betting or a seasoned pro in need of a quick refresher, we’ve got your back.

We’ll touch on key dates in the MLB season, teach you how to properly analyze MLB odds and betting lines and give you the insight you need to increase your chances of wagering success. Here is best Tigers betting odds.

How To Read MLB Odds 

Understanding MLB odds is crucial for making informed bets. Odds are typically displayed in moneyline odds format (or the American format), with negative numbers indicating favorites and positive numbers representing underdogs.

For example, in a game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the odds might be Yankees -140 and Red Sox +120. If you bet $140 on the Yankees and they win, you’ll earn $100 in profit plus your original wager. Conversely, a $100 bet on the Red Sox would return $120 in profit if they win.

MLB betting also includes over/under odds, where you wager on the total number of runs scored in a game.

Understanding MLB Line Movement & Odds Changes

MLB betting lines and odds are constantly adjusting based on a variety of factors and understanding these movements is critical for making smart bets. Line changes can result from injury news, where the absence of a key player or starting pitcher can drastically shift the odds.

Weather conditions, such as wind direction or rain, also play a significant role in influencing totals and other lines, especially in outdoor stadiums. Public betting trends can cause sportsbooks to move lines to balance the action. If a majority of bettors are backing one side heavily, oddsmakers may adjust the line to reduce their potential losses.

What are the different types of MLB bets?

The leading legal sportsbooks offer 200+ MLB betting options in an individual baseball game, which is quite impressive but may seem overwhelming to some. To help you narrow it down, we’ve listed the most common bets on Major League Baseball.

Moneyline Betting

Moneyline bets are the most straightforward way to bet on an MLB game. It’s a prediction of which team will win the baseball game. With these types of baseball bets, the sportsbooks assess the two teams, determine an underdog and a favorite team and then release the moneyline odds. For example:

• Tampa Bay Rays +126 at SBK
• New York Yankees -135 at Bet365

In this example, the New York Yankees are the favorite and the Tampa Bay Rays are the underdog. A $100 bet on the New York Yankees would earn you a $74.07 profit if they won the game, whereas a $100 bet on the Tampa Bay Rays would earn you a $126 profit.

Runline Betting

The runline is the closest thing you will find to point spread betting when it comes to baseball betting. The standard runline is 1½ runs, which is what we will focus on in the following:

• Los Angeles Angels +1½ (-115 odds at FanDuel)
• Los Angeles Dodgers -1½ (+105 odds at DraftKings)

In this example, a $100 bet on the Los Angeles Dodgers would earn you a $105 profit if they won the game, whereas a $100 bet on the Los Angeles Angels would earn you an $86.96 profit.

Run Totals (Over/Under Betting)

This is another popular betting market in Major League Baseball. With baseball totals, you just need to estimate if the number of runs that are scored in a baseball game will be over an amount set by a sportsbook. Sports betting operators release a total run line on each upcoming game.

• Over 7½ runs (-115) at Caesars
• Under 7½ runs (-105) at Caesars

If you expect the Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Mets to have a combination of at least 8 runs, you can bet on over. If you believe the game will see 8 runs or fewer, then you should bet on under.

Prop Betting

MLB prop bets provide you with hundreds of additional betting opportunities on any given baseball game. Prop bets focus on a proposition – whether something will happen during a game – and they are not always tied to the final result. Proposition bets in baseball often fall into two distinct categories:

• Player Props
• Game Props/Team Props

Player props concentrate on individual performance stats. With these types of wagers, you can bet on the total number of walks, singles, doubles, triples, home runs, strikeouts, etc. You can also bet on the following popular metrics: total bases, RBIs (Runs Batted In), hits, hits + RBIs + runs, stolen bases, runs record and if the pitcher will earn a quality start.

Game props might include betting on the highest-scoring inning or first five innings or whether the game goes into extra innings.

Series Betting

MLB series betting allows you to wager on the outcome of a multi-game series between two teams, rather than on individual games.

This bet type is unique to sports like baseball, where teams play consecutive games against the same opponent during the regular season or playoffs. Series bets typically cover two to four games and focus on which team will win the majority of the games in that series.

Series betting can offer strategic advantages for baseball bettors who have insights into team performance trends, pitching rotations or injury reports over several games. Sportsbooks adjust the odds for series bets based on factors such as team form, venue and key players.