It’s time to get excited about MLB betting!  For far too long, Major League Baseball has taken a backseat to the other major sports in the world of sports betting.  Most people are under the impression that there are no profits to be made in betting on baseball.  They couldn’t be more wrong!  MLB betting has more potential than any other sport to make you money and, when you bet intelligently based on value, there is significantly less risk involved.  MLB bets are almost always based on the money line.  That means that there is no point spread involved, if you pick a winning side on the money line, your team simply has to win.  So, what makes this concept any different, or better, than betting on the more conventional sports like football and basketball?  Money line MLB betting allows the bettor to risk less money in order to profit when you bet on underdogs.  Underdogs are simply the team that the sportsbook thinks will lose the game, the bigger the underdog, the bigger the payout. 

For example, we will say Tampa Bay is playing Boston.  Most bettors, and therefore most sportsbooks, are definitely going to have Boston favored in this game, perhaps by as much as 2 to 1.  Their logic is that the Red Sox have twice as good of a chance to win than do the Devil Rays.  If you polled the general public over the past several seasons, you’d likely have the large majority of people say that the Red Sox would easily win any given game against the Devil Rays as well, in fact, they might be willing to put money on it. 

Let’s take a look at what would have happened to these hypothetical people had they put their money where their mouth is and bet the Red Sox on the money line every time they played the D-Rays throughout the 2006 MLB Season.  We will assume this particular person bet to win $100 on each game:

Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 2006

Series 1
Bet on Boston $146 to win $100 > Result: Loss -$146
Bet on Boston $128 to win $100 > Result: Loss -$128
Bet on Boston $120 to win $100 > Result: Win $100

Series 1 Results:  1-2 Record , Down $174

Series 2
Bet on Boston $153 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $107 to win $100 > Result:  Loss -$107
Bet on Boston $194 to win $100 > Result:  Loss -$194
Bet on Boston $143 to win $100 > Result:  Loss -$143

Series 2 Results:  1-3 Record, Down $344

Series 3
Bet on Boston $185 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $273 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $107 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $330 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100

Series 3 Results:  4-0 Record, Up $400

Series 4
Bet on Boston $172 to win $100 > Result:  Loss -$172
Bet on Boston $138 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $150 to win $100 > Result:  Loss –$150

Series 4 Results:  1-2 Record, Down $222

Series 5
Bet on Boston $163 to win $100 > Result:  Loss -$163
Bet on Boston $295 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100
Bet on Boston $201 to win $100 > Result:  Win $100

Series 5 Results:  2-1 Record, Up $37

 

Overall Results:  9-8 Record, Down $303

These results speak volumes.  First, you may notice that the overall record was a winning one, however the net money gain was negative.  It is important to remember when choosing to bet on favorites, you are going to need to win a significantly higher percentage of your bets to see any profits.  What we need to look at is potential, which is really what is most important in MLB betting. 

Now, what if you would have bet on the D-Rays instead?  What would those results look like?  Well, for starters you would have gone 8-9, a losing record, but you would have won approximately $273!  As for potential there is no comparison, you were risking a total of $1,700 with the potential to win approximately $2,700!

Now, obviously it is much more difficult to pick underdogs to win, but when you put it into the perspective of risk versus reward it is definitely worth your time researching for MLB betting.     

Situations like this happen all the time.  Granted, it is not the norm, but if you know how to pick your spots you can profit this season for sure.

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The 2008 baseball season is fast approaching and, as always, the lines for the team most likely to win the World Series have been posted.  This year the returning World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox are favored to repeat their performance coming in at 4-1 to win the Fall Classic.  The Red Sox are followed by a pair of New York teams, with both the Yankees and Mets commanding equal respect at 5-1.  The Detroit Tigers are next at 6-1, but after that you’ve got quite the drop-off.  From 6-1 we jump all the way to the 10-1 Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, then on down to the LAA Angels at 14-1.  If your team didn’t make it into the the teams previously listed, sorry, but your team has at least 20-1 odds to win the World Series this year.  Not to worry, however, the Colorado Rockies got to the series last season as a 55-1 shot.  My advice to you would be that, if you are going to wager on the team to win the World Series this year, don’t bet too much with your heart.  There are plenty of teams that could get hot in the post-season and make a run at the series, but there are also plenty of teams that won’t even sniff the playoffs (see the teams with the 100-1 odds? You’ll probably want to stay away from them unless you know something that I don’t).  Anyway, these bets are mostly for fun and if the team you bet on before the season starts makes it to the post-season it can be really fun, just don’t go blowing a stack on the Twins thinking you are going to get paid off at 60-1.  Good luck this baseball season, it should be a good one!

Arizona Diamondbacks 20-1

Atlanta Braves 20-1

Baltimore Orioles 100-1

Boston RedSox 4-1

Chicago Cubs 10-1

Chicago White Sox 30-1

Cincinnati Reds 60-1

Cleveland Indians 10-1

Colorado Rockies 25-1

Detroit Tigers 6-1

Florida Marlins 100-1

Houston Astros 60-1

Kansas City Royals 100-1

Los Angeles Angels 14-1

Los Angeles Dodgers 18-1

Milwaukee Brewers 30-1

Minnesota Twins 60-1

New York Mets 5-1

New York Yankees 5-1

Oakland Athletics 100-1

Philadelphia Phillies 20-1

Pittsburgh Pirates 100-1

San Diego Padres 30-1

San Francisco Giants 100-1
 
Seattle Mariners 30-1

St. Louis Cardinals 60-1

Tampa Bay Rays 100-1

Texas Rangers 100-1

Toronto Blue Jays 30-1

Washington Nationals 100-1

Bet on the World Series and much more at SportsBook.com!

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