Betting on Baseball

The American Major League Baseball (MLB) season starts in April and runs through to October, and if you haven’t bet on this sport before, you’ve been missing out on some great bets.

The first thing to say is that all the major bookmakers, Ladbrokes, William Hill and the like, offer a comprehensive service on US baseball, with odds for every single match, and prices for teams to win their Divisions, Leagues and the ultimate championship, The World Series. So placing your bet is no problem at all.

Don't know much about the game?

Well, it is a lot like the ‘rounders’ you might have played when you were a kid, the object is to hit the ball thrown by a pitcher, and run around all four bases to score a 'run,' the team with the most runs wins the game. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, and you will find all the rules explained on the official Major League Baseball website: www.mlb.com

It's a cracking sport, but the main interest for us is in backing winners, and that's absolutely possible.

As with other American sports the MLB is divided into two conferences, the American Conference and the National Conference. Each conference has 15 teams, divided into three 5-team divisions.

If you are used to Premier League footballers complaining about having to play a 38-game season then pull up a chair – in the MLB regular season each team plays 162 games! And then the playoffs!

The playoffs eventually produce an American League champion and a National League champion, and these two face each other for baseball’s biggest prize – a place in the World Series.

Both teams play 9 innings in a match, and if the scores are level at the end, play continues until the next run is scored.

The Bets

Match betting is very straightforward.

We either back a team to win without any handicap, or we back them on the match handicap, either receiving a head start or giving up a start.

There are also bets in every game on the total number of runs that will be scored – and we choose to bet either under or over the bookmakers’ estimate.

One thing to note is that each team’s pitcher is hugely important to his team’s chances, and bets are always struck on the understanding that the two pitchers named by each side as their ‘starter’ actually do start the match. If there is any change to either pitcher before game time bets are considered void – and new odds are offered on the match.

See the Betting Terms Explained section on the website for more on how these types of bets work.