The Key to Finding the Best Baseball Betting Sites
While baseball may be seen as a predominantly North American sport, it actually has its roots in 18th century England. Over in the UK, cricket eventually took over, and the Americans really grasped the concept to produce the best baseball league and the biggest players.
In the modern day, the game is still played all over the world but Major League Baseball, (MLB), in the US, remains the pinnacle. The sport is a big draw for the gambling industry too, and in this guide, we will tell you all about the markets you can get involved with, along with some tips on finding the best baseball betting sites from the many that are available online.
The Big League
Major League Baseball was set up back in 1903, and in the modern day, it is the most prestigious division by some distance. There are other leagues around the world, but for the purposes of this guide, we will focus on MLB betting sites, and the games will be used as examples to describe the markets.
So, let’s get straight on and outline all of the options in terms of baseball online betting.
Top Baseball Betting Sites
| Bookie | Review | Highlights | Cash Out | Bonus | Visit |
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bet365 |
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In Free Bets £50 |
CLAIM BONUS | |
| Bet £10 & Get £50 in Free Bets for new customers at bet365. Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply. Registration required #AD | |||||
Unibet |
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Free Bet Money Back as a Bonus up to £40 if your first bet loses + £10 Casino |
CLAIM BONUS | |
| 18+ begambleaware.org. New customers only. Min deposit £10. Money back as bonus if first bet loses. Wagering requirements: all sportsbook 3x at min. odds of 1.40 (2/5), casino 50x. Unless forfeited the sportsbook bonus must be wagered before using the casino bonus. Bonus expires 7 days after opt-in. Full T&C's apply.. #AD | |||||
10bet |
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Welcome Bonus 100% Up to £50 |
CLAIM BONUS | |
| New bettors; Code SPORT; Wager deposit & bonus 8x; Max qualifying bet stake=initial bonus; Valid 60 days; Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply; T&C apply; 18+ #AD | |||||
Betfred |
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Free Bet Bet £10 Get £30 Bet |
CLAIM BONUS | |
William Hill |
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Free Bet Bet £10 & Get £30 |
CLAIM BONUS | |
| *New customers using Promo Code P30 only, min £10/€10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 2 x £15/€15 (30 days expiry), free bet/payment method/player/country restrictions apply. #AD | |||||
Start at the Beginning
When you’re staking on any sport for the first time, it pays to start with the most logical betting option – the match result. In baseball, things are kept really simple because there are only two possible outcomes with a win for either side. The draw doesn’t come into it here because at the end of the game, one side has to emerge as the winner.
In the MLB, games come thick and fast, so there are a lot of opportunities to study head to head games. Form is very immediate in baseball as teams are constantly active during the season so, as with all sports, you should study this as your first option.
Outright Options
The MLB season is a long one, but before a pitch is even thrown, there will be markets available on the series winner. Outright markets are a big part of baseball online betting, and with most bookmakers, they should be open as soon as the previous season comes to an end.
Options for this bet will include a punt on the American League winner and the overall National League winner. The best MLB betting sites will be the quickest to declare and will also have better prices, but there will be outright betting options for all of the big professional leagues across the world. Those markets do come up before the first pitch, and they will remain open once the action starts – all the way up to the point when a winner is finally crowned.
A Little Something on the Side
Baseball is a very simple sport to follow, and unlike many others, there isn’t a huge choice when it comes to side bets. In any game, there are mainly just three possible options – money line, run line and total runs.
A money line bet is simply another term for the straight result. All MLB betting sites will have these and we have dealt with the process extensively in the previous section. We’ll, therefore, move on to total runs and this should also be self-explanatory. Here, we are simply betting on the total amount of runs scored between the two sides during the game.
The options here will vary depending on which bookmaker you play with, but typically there will be three lines set at 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5. From there, simply pick a line and back over or under it.
The last of our three side bets is run line, and this is similar to the winning margin or handicap option that you may have seen with other sports. With this bet, a line may be set at 1.5, and when that appears, you bet on the favourites to win by two runs or more or the outsiders to lose by a single run. Take your pick, and if either of those options drops in, you win the bet.
That essentially concludes what is a small set of side markets for baseball online betting, but aside from the conventional ante-post method of placing a bet, there are other ways to get involved with this great sport.
When the Action Starts
Baseball is a very methodical sport, and its long duration makes it a perfect option for those who want to get involved in MLB live betting. One of the ways in which you can identify the best baseball betting sites is to see how many live markets a bookmaker lists and even if this is not important to you, this extended choice is the mark of a good bookie.
Most of the regular ante-post options are available if we switch to MLB live betting, starting with the result. Use your best analytical skills to identify how the game is progressing and decide on which of the two teams is most likely to win.
Live betting can also be used on either of the two main side bets that we’ve mentioned above – total runs and run line. Check that the sportsbook in question offers these before you sign up if these are going to be important to you.
As with any live betting strategy, be sure you have the right equipment in place before starting. If betting on the go, download the bookmaker’s app to your mobile device and make certain you have the latest software in place to support it. At home, your internet connection should be fast because delays in transmission could mean that you miss out on the best in-play prices as they come in. Take care of these background points, and you will set yourself up for successful live betting.
Spreading It Around
As we’ve seen, there isn’t a wide set of side bets for this sport, but for those who want to take their baseball online betting to a more advanced level, there is an active following of spread bettors. For those who want to look at MLB against the spread options, it’s important to know that this isn’t for the novice because the exposure here is higher and losses can be greater than your initial stake.
However, profits can be much higher too, so this is a good option for the experts and here is how spread betting works in the baseball markets. In a sense, this is the same as the handicap bet so; if a team is listed at +120 using American odds, this is how much you will win for every £100.00 that you stake. This is a sport where many US-based bookmakers can be used, and that’s why plenty of this type of examples are given using American odds. As you move through your betting journey, you may want to stick with a sportsbook that quotes fractional or decimal odds if you are more familiar with them but please don’t dismiss those US operators as they can have high welcome bonuses backed up by competitive odds.
And, while we are on that subject, here are some tips for finding the best bookmakers for you, whether you stake ante-post, in play or for MLB against the spread betting.
Making the Right Choice Is Vital
We come to the part of this guide that will help you to pick out the best baseball betting sites from the hundreds that are available online. This aspect of baseball online betting is just as crucial as any of the factors that we have already mentioned.
Most, if not all online sportsbooks will have baseball listed on their A to Z, but it would be a criminal waste of all of this knowledge if you were to partner in with the wrong one. By this point, you may be asking what criteria are needed to make the best MLB betting sites, and the answer to that question comes in two parts.
Firstly, we want value for money, and the most obvious place to start is with competitive, daily odds. Check that your bookmaker is offering prices that are in tune with the rest of the online world. No-one is going to be up there with the best odds on each and every occasion, but they should, at the very least, be quoting consistently long numbers for all baseball markets.
There are two ways in which you can check this for yourself: If you see a bookie who looks good for baseball then just take a small selection of odds from the match result markets and compare them with two of the big name brands. This doesn’t need to take up more than a few minutes of your time because you only need to check 2 – 3 options to see if that bookmaker offers value or not.
The other alternative is to take a look at the main odds comparison sites. This would undoubtedly be quicker but, bearing in mind that there are over a hundred sportsbooks to choose from, those sites may only quote around twenty companies. You don’t want to miss out on one of the other operators who could prove to be among the best sites for baseball online betting, so the first approach is the best one.
Those numbers can also get a lift thanks to regular price boosts. A number of sportsbooks quote daily enhanced odds for a number of sports, and the best MLB betting sites will do this just to add a little extra value for their customers.
Offers and promotions that refer specifically to baseball are rare, but it is possible to use generic promos like acca insurances, and free bet refunds on the sport so look out for those bookies who have a wide spread of deals.
Coupled with that aspect of value, we also need a sportsbook that gives us plenty of choice. Everyone lists prices in the result market but only the best baseball betting sites go above and beyond that to give us a comprehensive set of side bets too.
If you’re going to get involved in MLB live betting, then you should also look for a site that has great coverage of in-play markets. This may well mean signing up with several bookmakers so that all of your bases are covered, but that’s OK because there are plenty to choose from and it also means that you can take advantage of all those great welcome offers that are out there.
For betting on MLB against the spread, you may well need a specialist provider: A lot of the established brands do offer spread betting, but this is a niche area that really needs someone to step in and provide this as a separate option. A quick search will offer a full list, and from there, it will be very easy to back MLB against the spread as part of your overall baseball strategy.
Pitch for Some Profits
You’re now heading to the end of this guide and the part in the process where we hand everything over to you. You now have all the knowledge you need to bet on the sport, and we’ve also provided the essential tips needed to find the best baseball betting sites online.
Now you need to take all of those pointers on board and go out seeking profits. That’s the challenge, and like any sport, the key to unlocking returns on a regular basis is to do plenty of research. Form is key to this process, both in terms of the match result and the small range of side bets that baseball offers. Look out for head to head results: As we mentioned, games come very quickly in Major League Baseball, so it is quite easy to check back on recent results between the two teams that are taking part.
Take on board all of that information and, having found the right bookmaker to match your needs, you will have set yourself up for what will hopefully become a profitable pastime with regular returns from your baseball betting.