The Public Loves Favorites in MLB Odds

November 30th, 2010 Betting on MLB Baseball

MLB odds are bet by the public more on favorites than on underdogs.

The public is far too inclined to play favorites in baseball odds and they also pay a high price to do so. Let’s examine why the public bets favorites in MLB odds. MLB odds will show certain teams favored more than other teams. This is because the public loves the marquee teams. To the public, the teams to always take in MLB odds are the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. To a lesser extent you can throw in the Cubs, Mets and even Dodgers into that group.

What you must understand, above everything else, if you want to succeed when betting MLB odds is that the oddsmakers are fully aware of the public’s tendency to play marquee teams and favorites. Since they know that is what the public is going to do, and since they also know that the public has a strong preference for powerful favorites such as the Yankees, they will raise the baseball odds on those teams. That doesn’t stop the public though who will still bet them hand over fist in baseball odds.

The public is going to bet big favorites regardless of the MLB odds. The problem with overlays in MLB odds is that they can wipe out a bankroll quickly. If you are constantly betting on the Yankees or Red Sox as home favorites, for example, and they lose a game at minus-two-dollars or higher, you are going to need three straight wins to get back ahead in MLB odds. This illustrates the problem in MLB odds.

The sportsbooks, around a decade ago, finally tired of getting hammered by the people betting favorites, adjusted the MLB odds to the point that big favorites became a losing proposition. Laying -300 or even -400 was not something most people would do so the MLB odds makers got gamblers to either stay off the high priced numbers or lose money taking them.

If you are going to bet favorites in baseball odds you must be very cautious since the public is probably going to raise the price to an unfair level.

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