Betting on Baseball - The Basics

by Chris Allen

The baseball season is is getting underway and It surprises me how many people who play football and basketball still don't understand the basics of betting on baseball. So let's  go over the basics.

There are three basic types of bets when betting baseball.

1. Betting on a team straight to win. (The Money Line)
2. Betting on a team to win on the Run Line.
3. Betting in the total number of runs scored in a game.

Betting on a team straight to win. (The Money Line):

When betting on a team straight to win the game, your team must win the game. You are betting on the final score. The lines are listed to win a $100, but that doesn't mean you have to wager $100. For example to line might be the Mets –130 and the Braves +120. This means that the price of the game is if you bet $130 on the Mets you will win $100 with a return of your original wager for a total of $230. If you wanted to bet on the Braves to win, you would bet $100 to win $120 with a return of your original wager for a total of $220. This is called the money line. Remember the team with the minus means you have to bet that much to win $100, and the team with the plus is how much you win when you bet $100.

Betting on a team to win on the Run Line:

When betting on the run line you will either take +1 ½ or give –1 ½ runs. Just add or subtract this from the final score of the game and you will have your outcome. For example the Mets are –1 ½ +150 and the Braves are +1 ½ -170. This means if you bet on the Mets they must win by more than 1 ½ runs and if you wager $100 you would win $150 with a return of $250. Now if you where to bet on the Braves at +1 ½ -170 if they win the game or lose the game by less than 1 ½ runs you would win your bet. If you wagered $170 you would win $100 with a return of $270. Usually the opening line favorite will be –1 ½ runs and the opening line underdog will be + 1 ½ runs.

Betting in the total number of runs scored in a game:

When betting on the total number of runs scored in a baseball game you are betting on the total numbers of runs scored by both teams combined in the entire game. If the total on the Mets / Brave game was listed at 9 ½ you would bet that they will combine score over or under 9 ½ runs for the entire game. For example the under is 9 ½ -115. You would have to bet $115 to win $100 for a return of $215. If you where to bet the over 9 ½  -105, you would have to bet $105 to win $100 with a return of $205.

Remember these numbers are just the prices, and baseball bets will always be listed based on $100 bets. But you do not have to bet $100 always check with the Sports Book at the Casino or online you are playing at, many have bet minimums as low as $5 or $10.

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