Reading Baseball Betting Lines

Winning or losing a bet, how to handicap a game, none of these acts are as relevant or confusing to a beginning baseball better than perhaps the simple act of reading baseball betting lines. Reading baseball betting lines is imperative to any baseball better for in them are not only indicated the teams, their odds and potential payoff, but also clues as to what the "experts" are saying and as to which lines are the bargains. They look confusing enough at first, sure enough, but as soon as you are accustomed to the format, reading baseball betting lines is a snap.

We will now walk from left to right through a fictional though typical table and learn how reading baseball betting lines work.

DateTeamPitcherMoney LineTotal
7-16 6:05pm286 - Home Team 287 - Visiting TeamGary Pitcher Frank Pitcher+105 -115Over 7.5 - 105 Under 7.5 + 115


Every betting line gives the date, some also announce the time. When reading baseball betting lines it is standard procedure for online sports books to use Eastern Standard Time. The team column is also fairly straight forward. Most sports books are not explicit about which team is at home and which the visitor, one must simply know when reading baseball betting lines that it is industry standard to place the home team in the upper row. Check out Bodog and start winning NOW! Bodog.com is known in the online gambling industry for having a phenomenal customer service department, safe and secure deposit methods and terrific cash bonuses! BET on MARCH MADNESS at BODOG and receive a 10% UPFRONT CASH SIGN-UP BONUS!

The third column, which here is for pitcher, may or may not be present depending upon the particular line being bet. For example, futures bets seldom give this information since it is generally not yet known who the starting pitcher will be in a given game, let alone which team. When reading baseball betting lines, be aware that the starting pitcher is a major factor in baseball odds calculation.

Next is the all important moneyline. When reading baseball betting lines the most important fact to know here is that the higher negative number is always the favorite. In this example the Visiting Team is the favorite and the home team the underdog. The moneyline not only indicates favorite and underdog, but when reading baseball betting lines it indicates how much one needs to risk in order to win. In this example the better will risk $1.15 to win $1 off of a Visiting Team win.



The final column indicates how many runs the odds maker believes each team will score that game. It is standard for this number to be placed at 7.5. If enough people bet on a particular over or under not only will the moneyline move, the number of runs will increase to 8. This is one way to tell where a lot of the action is when reading baseball betting lines.

With a basic understanding of how reading baseball betting lines works it should be possible with practice to find the good value bets. Stay sharp and good luck with the next baseball season!

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by Tom Morgan at 1800-sports.com on March 29, 2006


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