Baseball betting is different from most other popular sports because the majority of wagering is based on money lines.
When you bet a money line it means you are risking money instead of laying points. For example, if a team is listed as a -$150 favorite that means you must lay $150 to win back $100 in profit as you bet on baseball.
Baseball betting can be profitable though since you can always play underdogs. If a team is listed as a +$140 underdog it means you bet $100 and win back $140 profit if the underdog wins. In baseball betting, it’s not necessary to pick more winners than losers in order to make a profit. That is because if you play underdogs you are always getting plus money in baseball betting.
For example, let’s say you play two underdogs on the baseball betting line both listed at +$150. Even if you split, with one win and one loss, your net result will be a profit of $50. It’s conceivable that a baseball bettor could pick more losers then winners, but still make money if he picked all underdogs in baseball betting. Let’s look at the reverse. Let’s say you bet on two favorites listed at -$150 in baseball betting. If you split with one win and one loss, your net result would be a loss of $50 after a bet on baseball. You could actually pick more winners than losers but lose money because they were all favorites so keep that in mind when you play the games.
Some baseball betting players really like underdogs, especially early in the season. The start of the season has all teams starting fresh and with renewed optimism. This generally favors the weaker teams because they are getting the underdog prices. You also have pitching staffs that are all healthy but you should know that starters have not worked more than four to five innings per start in spring training. That means bullpens are a huge factor early in the season and that means a lot of unpredictable results, and that means underdogs have value in baseball betting.
Betting underdogs against the baseball betting line early in the season also has line value. Lines are based on old information, including last year’s results early in the season. Definitely consider baseball betting underdogs, particularly early in the season when not enough is known to bet on baseball.