When we compare total dollars spent on wagering, there is no arguing that the NFL is the most popular sport for North Americans to bet on.

However, for those who love researching historical data and player stats, the Major League Baseball (MLB) season can be a significant source of sports betting entertainment.

Not only is baseball played every night of the week for seven months of the year, but a large part of their games take place while other sports, such as the NFL, NBA and NHL, are in their off-season.

Baseball offers many betting opportunities, from traditional moneyline and over/under options, to unique props like NRFI betting and hundreds of different player prop options.

What we cover below:

• Traditional MLB bets and odds explained
• MLB Prop betting
• What Is A NRFI?
• MLB Player Prop betting
• How BestOdds Edge and Pro Can Help
• MLB Betting Tips and Strategies
• Betting on the MLB Playoffs
• Welcome Bonus Advantage

If betting on MLB baseball interests you, we have you covered below.

Traditional MLB Betting Odds Explained

When we think of traditional MLB types of bets, we are talking about Moneyline betting, Totals betting (O/U) and Run Line betting options.

Moneyline

Baseball is more similar to a hockey game than a football or basketball game regarding the final number of points scored. It is very common for underdogs to keep games close and even win outright.

Therefore a moneyline bet is the most popular form of MLB bet placed.

MLB Moneyline Example:

• New York Yankees -180 vs
• Boston Red Sox +140

In our game above, the Yankees are the heavy favorite. A bettor must wager $180 to win $100 in profit.

A $100 bet earns $140 in profit if you like the Underdog Red Sox.

MLB Totals (O/U) Betting

MLB totals (commonly called Over / Unders) are the same in baseball as in all other sports.

The oddsmakers set a total number of runs that both teams will score, and you choose to go over or under that mark.

Using our Same Yankees vs Red Sox example:

• New York Yankees -180
• Boston Red Sox +140
• Over (-110) 9.0, Under (-110) 9.0

The moneyline assigned to an Over/Under bet is usually close to -110 odds for either side.

Remember, this is a combined effort — the over cashes when both teams combine to score more than 9.0 runs.

If they fall short, the under pays out.

In this example, you can also get a PUSH if the total runs scored are Nine.

The Total for an MLB game will vary depending on many different factors.

The pitching matchup, the weather, injuries, and the teams involved will heavily influence the Over/Under total.

What Is The Run Line In MLB Betting?

Even though moneylines are the most popular bet, run lines are a great alternative. It’s a point spread of 1.5 runs attached to a moneyline.

Following our same example as above, this is how a run line bet looks:

• New York Yankees -1.5 (+145)
• Boston Red Sox +1.5 (-155)

In our earlier moneyline example, the Yankees are the betting favorite. However, when you add the -1.5 Run Line, we can see the odds shift, and now they become an Underdog.

The Red Sox went from underdog to the betting favorite because the +1.5 Run Line attached to their odds gives them a significant advantage.

The standard Run line is +1.5. However, depending on your book of choice, you can find up to 2.5 or even 3.5 run lines.

What Is MLB Prop Betting?

Savvy bettors can find intriguing prop bets in baseball.

There are numerous game-related prop bets, such as:

• Which team will score first,
• Which team will be winning after 5-innings
• Over/Under of only the 1st-Iinning

MLB prop bets usually are not related to which team will win the game or how many final runs will be scored.

Instead, they are related to many other instances that occur within an MLB game.

What Is NRFI Betting?

Maybe the most popular type of MLB prop bet is the NRFI prop.

There are two sides to an NRFI bet.

You can bet that No Runs will be scored in the first inning or take the other side and bet that a run will be scored within the first six outs.

If you are betting on a run being scored, then you are actually betting on a YRFI (Yes Run First Inning)

The odds will vary significantly between games depending on the teams and the pitchers involved.

If you are an MLB baseball fan more interested in the drama and excitement of a run being scored within the first six outs of a game, then NRFI betting might be for you.

If you are a baseball fan who enjoys how America’s pastime plays out over 9-innings and the strategy involved over an entire game, you might find the drama and excitement with each pitch of a NRFI bet to be a little bit intense.

MLB Player Prop Betting

An MLB Player Prop bet is a type of wager that revolves around the specific performance of an individual player and is most likely not related to the game’s final outcome.

Player prop bets have become increasingly popular in MLB baseball and all sports because they provide enhanced entertainment options for the game.

Sometimes as bettors, we don’t have a lot of interest in the two teams playing a game or in the final outcome of a game.

We might be watching the Toronto Blue Jays play not because we want the Blue Jays to beat their rival New York Yankees but because we are big fans of Vladimir Guerrero Jr or Bo Bichette.

In this situation, we may not have the interest or the knowledge to bet on Toronto to win or lose the game. However, we can bet on Vladdy to hit Over 0.5 home runs or Bo Bichette to have Over 1.5 total bases in a game.

Prop bets originally started with the Super Bowl.

Sportsbooks started to create different types of betting options because so many Super Bowl viewers didn’t have a rooting interest in the teams involved or the game’s final score.

Prop bets simply provide even more entertainment options for bettors.

Player prop betting allows us to use our knowledge of individual players in a betting form, as opposed to only being able to apply our expertise to fantasy baseball games.

How BestOdds Edge and Pro Can Help

When it comes to betting on MLB, there may be no greater resource than BestOdds Edge and BestOdds Pro.

One of the biggest issues for sports bettors of all skill levels and experience is competing with the information and data compiled by the sportsbooks when they set their odds.

We are betting in a time where data and information are King.

However, not all recreational sports bettors have the desire to spend the time and effort compiling and analyzing the mass amounts of information the sportsbooks sort through.

Some of us don’t have the data science skills required, even if time and effort aren’t the issues.

BestOdds Edge and Pro were built by bettors, for bettors, with the intention of being the most comprehensive and insightful sports betting tool on the market.

Explore trends, expand H2H matchups, and quickly dive deep into hundreds of player prop bets offered by all the prominent sportsbooks.

• The BestOdds Player Prop Cheat Sheet identifies the player prop bets with the most significant edge in favor of bettors.
• The Same Game Parlay builder identifies correlated events and the best props bets to partner together when you build your SGP with.

With BestOdds Edge and BestOdds Pro, sports bettors of all experiences can access the same data, insights, and trends the sportsbooks use to set their lines.

MLB Betting Tips And Strategies

The Impact Of Umpires

Technology in baseball has even found ways to impact umpiring in the sport. Specifically, it has dramatically impacted how balls and strikes are called.

Today, umpires are held to strict standards when calling balls and strikes. However, there will always be close pitches and umpires known for having bigger strike zones than those known for having smaller strike zones.

How an umpire calls a game could impact things like the game Over/Under and specific player props, like how many strikeouts a starting pitcher will have.

It never hurts to know who the home plate umpire will be for a game and whether that umpire is known to have a big or small strike zone.

Betting MLB Underdogs

The top baseball handicappers will wager on as many underdogs as favorites.

Although two teams might be separated by a lot of wins in the standings, MLB bettors, there are a lot of data points to consider when making a bet, above and beyond total wins and losses.

Potential Reasons To Bet An Underdog

• Favorite is on an extended road trip
• Favorite has not been performing well of late
• Favorite struggles more against right-handed or left-handed pitching

Weather Can Be The Difference

When the wind blows in from centerfield, historically, games will finish Under their total at close to 55%.

Of course, when the wind is blowing out to left field, and a team is starting a lefty pitcher who will face a predominantly right-handed hitting lineup, the Over is more likely to cash.

You don’t have to be an expert in weather to follow the forecast and bet accordingly.

Avoid The Series Sweep

The series sweep is a combination of reverting to the mean, pride, and home-field advantage.

The belief is that home teams who have lost the first two or three games of a series will dig in to win the last game.

What team wants to be swept in their home stadium?

Of course, you can’t just blindly bet on home teams to win the last game without checking the moneyline odds, but many MLB bettors believe that home teams outperform the odds in this situation.

Betting On MLB Playoffs Online

After a long regular season, the MLB Playoffs are where baseball levels up.

Come playoff time, all teams are in a do-or-die mode, and games become much tighter.

In the postseason, teams usually implement a three or four-man rotation. This changes the whole bullpen dynamic. Thus, the trends you took advantage of in the regular season may not translate to the playoffs.

Watch out for those line movements. The playoffs mean more public bettors will be betting n the few remaining games.

This leads to odds swings, where often betting early means you can get the best odds available.

Betting On The World Series

The MLB World Series is one of the year’s biggest sporting events.

After a long regular season, baseball’s best battle in a best-of-seven to crown a champion.

Placing a futures bet is one way to bet on the World Series. But, if you are into the final matchup -as you should be, take advantage of the opportunities presented to us as bettors.

Compare betting odds from different sportsbooks and ensure you get the Best Odds for the bets that interest you the most. Since the World Series is a big event, many sportsbooks offer very enticing bonuses to win our business.

Don’t pass up these bonus opportunities. As we all look for an edge against the sportsbooks, there is no bigger edge than getting to bet with free money.

Welcome Betting Bonus Advantage

A welcome bonus by the sportsbooks is the easiest opportunity for bettors to gain an edge because it is money that has been gifted to us, even though it comes with specific stipulations before we can withdraw it from our account.

Although this money isn’t free to withdraw immediately, it is free for us to bet with.

Once we have placed a specific amount of bets or have bet a specific amount of the bonus money, we can start withdrawing the bonus money from our account.

As we all search for angles and edges to help us beat the sportsbook, if we aren’t taking advantage of all the bonuses available to us as bettors, we are definitely leaving money on the table.