A Guide To Betting On Baseball In 2021-22

By Tony Samboras
Updated: October 13, 2021

During the peak times of the pandemic in 2020, the online gambling market was thrown out of balance. With no casinos open, more and more punters were taking their wagers to online casinos, whereas for sports bettors, things became much more difficult.

Not only were their local bookmakers closed, but, due to a lack of sports matches, even sports betting websites suffered a huge loss of content, and bettors had little more to bet on than politics and the news-not much fun if you’re used to betting on high-intensity sports matches.

But now, with the pandemic finally beginning to draw to a close, sports have thankfully resumed and punters can once again feel the thrill of betting on thrilling matches. And now, more and more states have also begun to loosen the legality of sports betting, and more people than ever can now get involved via online gambling.

If you’re new to the world of sports betting, then don’t worry, as in this article we will cover everything you need to know about baseball betting, offering helpful tips and information for newbies.

What to Look for When Choosing a Betting Site

The first and most important aspect of placing your bets is choosing the site where you will be betting. Sports betting sites are all unique and offer many different features to entice new users to join their platform.

Generally, the main differences come in the form of their welcome offers. Some sites offer users “match bonuses” in which the site matches the user’s first deposit, giving some extra money to play around with. Others give the users the chance to take a “risk-free bet”. This is a bet where, even if you lose, the platform will return the money to you to place another bet.

How Do The Odds Work?

It is also worth noting that all sites offer different odds, and so it’s useful to have a browse around and find a site where your team has the best odds for the highest payout. Odds are shown in 3 different ways: fractional, decimal, and American (or “Moneyline”).

American (or “Moneyline”) odds are the odds you’ll most likely see when betting on baseball. These odds are simple and display the favorite and the underdog.

If a team is a favorite, they are displayed with a negative sign (-) and if they are the underdogs, they are shown with a positive (+) sign.

For favorites, the number after the negative sign is the amount the punter would need to bet to win $100 profit, and for the underdogs, the amount after the positive sign is the profit the punter would win from betting $100.

What Are My Betting Options?

When betting on baseball, you will be presented with 3 options, a Moneyline bet, an over/under, and a run line. The Moneyline bet is the most simple, and you are simply betting on the winner.

Over/under betting isn’t about the winner but the number of runs achieved in the game. Punters have the choice of betting whether the total runs will be over or under the amount shown by the sportsbook.

Your last option is the run line. In this style of betting, you are choosing whether or not you think the favorite will win by more than one run, or if you think the underdogs can hold out and lose by less than one run. For this reason, all run line bets tend to be either +1.5 or -1.5.

Playing a run line bet offers a much bigger payout for the favorites if they win by more than the margin, and gives a bit of leeway to the underdogs if they lose by less.

Now you know all the ins and outs (if you pardon my pun) about betting on baseball, it’s up to you to find your perfect site and start betting on your favorite teams.