Baseball Review

Introduction to Baseball Betting

Baseball is a team sport played over nine innings. Teams take it in turns to pitch and bat. The most important player is the pitcher. Betting is heavily dependent on who is pitching for each team. Teams can replace the pitcher during a match. The objective is to score runs by hitting Home Runs and progressing around the four bases. The away team always bats first, and matches can be truncated if one side has an unassailable lead. Baseball attracts huge crowds and television audiences in North America, Central America, Japan but not Europe.

Betting Events

The most prestigious and lucrative betting competition in the sport is Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America. There are also strong leagues in Central America and Japan but which are not as popular for betting. The NBA has a regular season and post-season playoffs. The final is the World Series which is played over the best of seven matches. Even though baseball is played in other parts of the world, the title of the playoff event indicates the prominence of baseball in North America. There are minor betting leagues in Europe. There is no official world championship.

Betting Types

Bookmakers in Las Vegas issue the baseball odds on a daily basis. Matches in MLB are played seven days a week, so there is a huge amount of betting opportunities. UK bookmakers and those in Europe follow the Las Vegas lines, but there are fluctuations. When a match begins, betting moves to the in-play environment. Customers can place ante-post bets on the winners of leagues and two conferences in MBL and the winner of the World Series.

Baseball Markets

The most bet on baseball markets are the money line, total and run line. These markets are the equivalent of the match winner, totals and handicaps in other sports. Bookmakers display these markets with a link to related markets. There are about 100 for a typical MLB match. These additional betting markets appear under the headings of hits and runs for the match and a number of innings. Bookmakers also offer more exotic markets such as the correct score and first Home Run hitter. These markets are popular because there is a decent potential win for a small stake.