This is the first in a series of posts from At The Corners describing the basics of baseball betting. We’ll begin with the very basics—those concepts in baseball betting that tend to turn off the casual bettor. Things are done a bit differently in baseball. But if you know the fundamental concepts, it can be as easy as enjoying a beer and a hot dog at the ballpark on a lazy summer afternoon.

(Note—If you are a seasoned baseball bettor, you’ll likely find these posts rather boring, but you might want to send the link to your buddy—the one who avoids baseball wagers 😄)

How to Bet on Baseball — The Basics

A Simple Guide for the Novice Baseball Bettor

Will J
May 09, 2023

Listen, I’m not gonna lie here—for a newbie, it can be rather confusing trying to figure out the intricacies (or what seem to be intricacies) involved in betting on baseball. You may log into your Sportsbook to place a simple wager on who wins the game. And when you do, you may find things rather confusing.

But honestly, it’s not that daunting if you know a few of the basics—like what a run line is and what total stands for. So if you're ready, let's dive into this.

Baseball odds and how to read the baseball line

Often, the thing that turns new bettors away baseball is the way the wager line looks. Compared to the relatively simple wager line of, say, a college football game, a baseball line is just plain funny looking.

Let’s take a look at one:

Look first at the money line (the column labeled “MONEY”). In this format, the odds are expressed as a number with either a positive or negative sign in front of it. There are really only two things to know about this:

• A positive number indicates the underdog, and represents the amount of money that can be won from a $100 bet. In the example above, the Colorado Rockies are the underdog at +125.

• A negative number indicates the favorite, and represents the amount of money that needs to be bet to win $100. In the example above, Pittsburgh Pirates are the favorite at -150.

And therefore, a money line of +125 means that a $100 bet on the underdog would result in a $125 profit. In other words, you would bet $100 on the Rockies, and then (if you win) you would receive back your original bet amount ($100) plus the $125 profit.^[1] That’s $225 returned to you.

A money line of -150 means that a $150 bet on the favorite would result in a $100 profit. If you win, you would receive back $250 (original bet amount + profit). But, of course, the potential for loss is different because you are betting on the favorite—so you had to bet a bit more to win a bit less.

So that’s a start, but fortunately there are more options in baseball betting to make things more interesting (and possibly more profitable) for you. Let’s begin to look at those options in Part Two (see link below).

^[1] You can bet any amount that you want, and it will be adjusted to match these odds. So a bet of $20 will win $25, etc.