If you don’t know already, you could probably have guessed that the major betting sports are football and basketball. Let’s turn our eyes to a betting sport that is often overlooked but can be very valuable: baseball. There’s nothing better than kicking back with a cold one, whether at home or at the stadium, and watching a ball game. It’s relaxing, enjoyable, and it can be (if done right), profitable. Why bet on baseball? There are plenty of good reasons. Unlike other sports, there is baseball on practically every night during the late spring, all summer and into the autumn. Not only does this make for more action, but it also minimizes the impact of injuries. A baseball player can be sidelined for ten games and the team will barely miss a beat. A long season gives you a chance to track a team’s progress and have a better snapshot of where they are at any given time, and whereas one â€off†game in football accounts for 1 / 16 of a season, an off game in baseball is barely a blip on the radar. A poor performance in one game can completely alter a football team’s psyche, and raise serious questions about their character, while for a baseball team, off nights in baseball are expected and can often be predicted (the last game of a long road trip, the game after an emotional win, etc). Unlike other sports, there will be baseball games going on in the early afternoon, mid afternoon, late afternoon, and into the evening, depending on which time zone you live in. It is not uncommon for guys to phone in a wager from work, and be sitting at their desks constantly refreshing an online gamecast or listening to the radio with headphones. In short, wagering on baseball can add excitement to almost any day, at almost any time of that day. There are plenty of financial reasons to bet baseball as well. Simply put, there is no lower vig in sports. The dime line in baseball has to be the best deal in all of sports wagering. Honestly, check it out. At GoSportsbet.com we offer the dime line for every game (you risk $110 instead of $120 to win $100), and for day games that are shown on ESPN, we offer a 5 cent line †you risk just $105 to win $100. Whereas in other sports, the house’s take is in the 4-5% range, with baseball, it is roughly 1-2%, which is really incredible value. Finally, in what other sport can you, not the bookies, impose conditions on the bet? (For instance, which pitchers start.) Why would sportsbooks make all these concessions, you ask? Because it’s the summer. There’s nothing else going on (unless you count the WNBA). In order for the sportsbooks to get any business, it’s going to have to be attractive to bettors. Now that we’ve established that baseball is often overlooked and has the potential to be very lucrative, let’s look at how to approach a wager on baseball. It must be noted that baseball is one of the most difficult sports to handicap accurately on a consistent basis. Why? Simply because there is far less disparity between teams. The Phoenix Suns won more than 75% of their games last season. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost one game out of 16 for a 94% win percentage. Last season the St. Louis Cardinals won less than 65% of their games but were the best team in baseball. Conversely, the worst team in baseball still won 32% of their games, while the worst basketball and football teams won just 16% and 12% of their games, respectively. Much closer competition means a much harder job for handicappers. There are two schools of thought when it comes to what one should emphasize when analyzing baseball: pitching and hitting. Let’s begin by examining pitching. Pitching is the only part of the game you can control. Because pitching match-ups are posted well in advance, you know who will be on the mound for (hopefully) the majority of the game. Having the most potent offence in the world doesn’t do you any good when your pitching staff is letting the other team clobber hits all over the ballpark (for reference, see â€Yankees, The New Yorkâ€). While a manager might decide to sit the star position player on your team at very little notice, you can be confident that for at least a few innings, you know who will be pitching and can judge accordingly. Also, while a star hitter might get four or five at-bats during a game, a pitcher will get to see everyone in a lineup. Hitting has its advantages too, though. Many professional bettors feel that because so many linesmakers focus on pitching, any advantage to be had in a pitching match-up will have been already found and reflected in the betting line. Why not look for an edge in an area that bookies pay less attention to? Don’t get the wrong idea†pitching is extremely importantâ€"some professional bettors say pitching is responsible for as much as 80% of the outcome of a baseball game. But if analyzing pitching lets you know which games are potential bets, analyzing hitting might help you decide what to bet on. Still other professional handicappers weigh emotional factors most heavily when deciding how to analyze a baseball match-up. I’ve mentioned a few above: is the team at the end of a long road trip? Have they just come off an emotional win the night before? Do the two teams have playoff history or a traditional rivalry? These are all things to consider. In the end, the solution is to go with whichever approach makes you most comfortable. While any sports wagering strategy requires discipline and analysis, when it comes to baseball there is no clear-cut â€best†method. Newer bettors would do well to try their hand at each, and see which approach they prefer and have more success with. In the next issue we’ll look at how runlines (baseball’s version of a point spread) are set and how they should be wagered. If you are thinking about wagering online visit http://www.gosportsbet.com and they will provide you with a $25 free no-deposit required wager.
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