What is MLB?
MLB is the abbreviation of Major League Baseball. That is, Major League Baseball. The MLB is a baseball organization founded in 1903 and that is currently the most popular in the world, since it consists of the most important teams from the United States (29) and one from Canada, making a total of 30.
In the United States it is one of the most popular sports along with the NBA, although in New Zealand and Dollarpa it has also been gaining fame in recent years. For this reason, bookmakers have incorporated numerous MLB markets and events into their betting offer.
The teams are divided into two leagues: 15 in the American League, and another 15 in the National League. Each league is grouped into three divisions (east, west, central). The duration of the season is 6 months, from April to September.
Among the most popular teams are the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants.
The popularity of MLB betting
MLB betting has been increasing in popularity in recent years. So much so that bookmakers get to offer more than 100 markets in some cases for MLB matches, even offering Live Streaming of the matches.
At some MLB bookmakers like Bet365 it is possible to watch MLB matches live to enjoy the event and place live bets.
Nowadays it is possible to find MLB bets in all licensed bookmakers in New Zealand, although some will have more markets or services than others, such as the aforementioned Streaming.
The most popular bets on MLB
Among the more than 100 markets that are in the bookmakers to bet on MLB, we find some markets more popular than others.
Bets on the meeting
Match winner, ticket totals or point handicaps are the main and most popular bets, as they are based on the final result of the match.
Combined bets
Baseball is a sport with many surprises and it is common to see very even odds in the match-winner markets. However, it is common to make combined bets a little more "safe", taking advantage of handicaps at lower odds but covering more options in the final result of the match.
Combining bets on the winner of the match is also a common option when the odds are low due to the favoritism of a team.
Betting on players
Within betting on players, the options are endless. Bookmakers offer total bets on runs, home runs, hits, doubles, triples, etc. But in addition there are also bets on pitchers: total eliminations, strikeouts, hits allowed, clean runs...
Betting on players can be very interesting if we have reliable information or statistics at hand, since we will only care about the performance of the specific player and not the final result of the match.
Bets on the team
Within each team there are numerous betting options. Total runs, hits, or handicaps. It will allow us to simply bet on the performance of the team in question, regardless of whether they ultimately win or lose the match.
Tips for betting on MLB
Baseball is a totally different sport than football or basketball. It is a slow sport, where matches can last more than 3 hours, and statistics play an important role. MLB is a very complex competition to bet on, with surprises and very even matches regardless of the level of the teams. However, there are some tips that you may find useful for your MLB betting:
Truthful and up-to-date information
The information is basic in betting on any sport. Not only of the players (possible injuries, absences, etc.) but also of the state of the pitch or weather conditions, since there are players or teams that can adapt better to some circumstances than others.
In a sport like baseball, for example, you will have to pay attention to the wind.
Statistics and results
Due to the equality that exists in MLB, statistics plays a fundamental role in helping us choose the best bet of the match. The average percentage of players or teams in each action will help us choose the best bet for example is to bet on more or less than 5.5 races.
The latest results are also really useful to assess the moment of form of the team or player.
For example, the batting average of batsmen is a very important data that must be taken into account in matches. It is indicated by a figure with 3 decimal places (such as 0.192) and indicates that out of 1000 pitches, the bat makes contact with the ball on 192.
Pay attention to the pitcher
The pitcher plays a key role in an MLB game. He is the pitcher of the team, and his duel against the batter is one of the most important analyzes that we must do in our bets. Analyzing the pitcher is to assess his state of form, possible injuries, statistics, home or away performance, as well as previous results against rivals or specific batsmen.
Taking advantage of the bookmaker markets
There are times when after having carried out the analysis of the match, the most sensible or interesting option is not in the bets on the final result, but in the bets on the specific performance of a player or team offered by our favorite mlb betting house.
Therefore, it is of special interest to take advantage of all the markets offered by bookmakers, where the final result does not matter but simply the number of races or eliminations that a player makes.
Betting on surprises
You just have to look at the odds of an MLB matchday to see the equality in the odds. Surprises are the order of the day, it is very unusual to see games with MLB odds below 1.70 to the victory of a team.
In baseball and specifically in MLB it is very common to see theoretically inferior teams giving the surprise and winning the game, so betting on those teams at high odds above 2.00 is an interesting option to take into account.
