MLB Odds Explained

The Money Line is the most common way to bet baseball unlike in football and basketball where the point spread is the most common betting option. The money line is a given price on a team provide by the oddsmakers for that team to win the game outright. When betting the money line the favourite will always be indicated by a minus sign (e.g. -150) and the underdog will usually be indicated by a plus sign (e.g. +150) or no sign (e.g. 150).

The Run Line is similar to the point spread in other sports where as you have a margin of points or runs in this case used to handicap the game but the difference is the run line does not vary like other sports it’s always 1.5 runs. The run line is also accompanied with odds (e.g. -1.5 +125), this means the team would have to win by 2 runs or more and you would win $125 for every $100 wagered. The favourite is always indicated by the minus sign in front of the run line not the odds part of the line (e.g. -1.5 -125).

The Over/Under also known as the total is the number of runs oddsmakers expect to scored in a game by both teams combined. The oddsmaker will provide a number (e.g. 8.5 -110) for the game, the 8.5 is the total of runs and the -110 is the odds part of the line. When betting the over/under in this example you would bet on if you thought the total combined number of runs scored will be more than 8.5 or less than 8.5. So if you think this game will be a high scoring game you would bet $110 to win $100 on the over 8.5 runs.