Baseball Betting Sites
MLB baseball has long been coined America’s pastime, and recent studies have shown 1 in every 4 Americans are active sports bettors. It should come as no surprise that every sports betting site period offers a plethora of wagering opportunities for MLB baseball. In this article I’ll cover the various ways to bet baseball online, but first let me state and elaborate on the fact that truer than with any other sport, where you make your wagers is of vital importance for baseball betting.
Baseball Moneylines
In case you’re very new to sports betting, the way baseball is most commonly bet is called a moneyline. In moneyline betting odds can be positive or negative. When positive you’re dealing with an underdog and the odds represent how much a $100 stake would pay; for example, +145 is risk $100 to win $145. When negative you’re dealing with a favorite, and the odds represent how much you need to stake in order to win $100; for example, -160 is risk $160 to win $100. You can bet in increments other than $100.00, and for as much or as little as you’d like, but the payouts are proportional to the $100 base.
Getting the Best Baseball Odds
An important first term for baseball bettors to understand is dimeline. This is the benchmark that all baseball bettors are looking for when choosing a baseball betting site. To explain, a moneyline of Yankees -160 / Blue Jays +140 is a 20 cent line, because the gap is 20 cents. Many betting sites that are great other times of the year, such as Bookmaker.eu, are less than ideal during baseball season because they offer 20 cent lines. For baseball you want look for sites that offer a 10-cent line (called a dimeline) as this leads to better odds overall.
Best Baseball Dimeline Sportsbooks
- www.5dimes.eu – Offers dimelines up to -191 (then progressive with no .20 lines until -266)
- www.justbet.cx – Offers dimelines up to -145, (then .15 lines up to -190)
- www.bovada.lv – Offers dimelines up to -141, (then .15 lines up to -179)
The above betting sites are all US friendly and rate well on our sportsbook rating guide. There are select few additional US betting sites that offer baseball dimelines such as BetOnline and WSEX but neither is a recommend site. Another site to consider is Bookmaker.eu for live betting. Outside these 4 suggestions there are no other US friendly sportsbooks we recommend for baseball betting.
Better Than Dimelines at Pinnacle Sports
Pinnacle Sports is a reduced online bookmaker with the lowest margins, highest limits and fastest payouts. Unfortunately, they don’t accept US players. If you live outside the United States you can do better using www.pinnaclesports.com because for baseball they offer an amazing 6 cent line up to -112, 7 cent lines up to -129, 8 cent lines up to -144, and dimelines up to -171. One other non-US site to consider is Bet365 they offer a dimeline on low moneylines, have an accumulator (parlay) bonus that can be used to get better odds and offer a 100% up to $200 / £100 / €100 cash sign up bonus with just a 3-time rollover.
Now that I’ve covered which online bookmakers are best for betting baseball, let me get into more specifics on the ways to bet baseball.
Types of baseball Bets
In addition betting moneylines, which again is a simple bet on which team will win, there are several other ways to bet baseball which I’ll cover in this section.
Baseball Runlines
The runline is an alternative method for betting baseball. This method involves a point spread such as Red Sox -1.5 / Blue Jays +1.5. In this example if the Red Sox win by 1 run those who bet them lose and those who bet the Blue Jays win. This is because the -1.5 indicates the Red Sox are favored by 1.5 runs and therefore need to cover that spread. The Blue Jays +1.5 indicates they are the underdog so they win for betting purpose by either winning the game outright or not losing by more than 1.5 runs. The best odds on runline betting can be found at 5Dimes.
Total Betting
In total betting the bookmaker sets a predicted amount of runs, say 8.5 for example, and bettors can wager on whether the total runs scored by both teams will go either over or under the posted betting total. This is a popular wagering option offered by all online betting sites.
Prop Betting
For baseball all sorts of unique propositions are offered. This is especially true for major games such as the ESPN game of the week, playoff games and the World Series. You can bet on things like which team will score first, will there be a run in the first inning, over/under how many strike outs a pitcher will have, how many home runs there will be in the game and so much more. Props are offered at most all betting sites, but 5Dimes tends to have the most markets and lowest juice.
Live Betting
Our favorite betting site in general Bookmaker.eu is not recommended for baseball premath, due to offering only 20 cent lines. However, they are highly recommended for in-play live betting. Via their live betting interface several games each day can be wagered while in progress. You can watch the game on TV and make prop bets on whether each batter will either a) strike out or walk, b) reach base by hit or error, or c) any other outcome. You can also wager between half-innings on adjusted moneylines, runlines and totals. No doubt if you plan to live bet on baseball www.bookmaker.eu is the best choice.
Future Betting
Another popular form of baseball wagering is future betting. Prior to opening day for each team you can make wagers on whether that team will win over or under a certain number of games this season. After this, wagering is available on which team will win the World Series, and at most sites which team will win the American League and National League. At certain points of the season you’ll also see 5Dimes has a market on which team will win each division or whether or not a certain team will make the playoffs.
Mobile Betting
Although not a wagering form itself, all the other forms of wagers mention here can be made on your mobile device. All three of the best baseball betting sites mentioned earlier on this page support betting with iPhone, Android, Nokia, tablets and other mobile devices.
While this for now concludes my article on baseball betting online, stay tuned because as time permits I plan to add much more additional content including advanced baseball betting strategy and other tips. Until then I wish you a profitable 2015 MLB baseball betting season and encourage you to return to this page at a later date.