Betting Tips for the MLB

Betting on sports is not an exact science. After all, you cannot get a single formula that will take into account the various changes and factors for each participant in a sporting event, much more a single sport. Sports betting is unpredictable, so do not expect all of your bets to win. If you want more challenge, but a better chance at profit, you could read how to be a bookie for dummies and switch over to being a bookie. Either way, here are some betting tips for the MLB.

The Favorites

Betting on the favorites is risky since its hard to make a profit from a game favorite. A general guide is to avoid those teams that will have a moneyline of -150 and above. By staying with -150 favorites, you’ll need to win by at least 60% of your bets to profit from it. So with playoff teams who normally win at around 55% to 60% clip, it will be a bit of a challenge to win big. 

You won’t need to avoid favorites totally. There is value in certain teams in certain games. Just double check your moneyline and don’t go too high.

The Early Season

One of the strategies in sports betting, especially with the MLB, is to spread out your available money into different teams, or bets, or stages of the season. And when you spread out your bets, don’t put too much into the early part of the season. Remember that the beginning of each season brings new rosters, players, new dynamics, players recovering from injuries, and other league adjustments. There are more uncertainties at this point of the season, and if you also add in the weather changes that happen in these months, you should bet conservatively so you won’t lose much if your bets are on the wrong side.

The Underdogs

Everyone says this: bet on the underdogs. And with good reason, especially with baseball. The difference between the top teams in the league versus the ones in the bottom is not as wide compared to other sports. For instance, you can see a great team win 98-64, while a bad team could go for 58-104. And these struggling teams have a much higher chance at beating their higher-ranked opponents, so you could opt for many lines. To make this strategy work, look for the starting pitching firstly. The starting numbers/players set much of the lines in a sportsbook. Look for the errors in the defensive line as well. A single change in any of the players, or even home and away, can change the outcome of the game.

The Popular Ones

There are certain teams, such as the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox, who have legions of fans. And their huge following results in widely advertised televised games. The more people watching, the more people will be betting. And more often than not, these are recreational bettors. They tend to place their bets on possible outcomes, but you also have a number of them betting for their favorite teams, regardless of the stats. This would then change the moneyline, and the higher up it goes, the harder it would be for you to profit from the bet. You may consider betting less or skip that game instead. Just check out the latest in sports news and you will see who the popular teams are.

The Pitchers

Always, always look at the pitching lineup of the teams in the game you want to bet on. The first pitchers you should look at are the starters, and look at how they were in their last outing. Look through all the pitchers they have in the bullpen, and you’ll have a better idea of what to expect from these teams on that particular day.