Baseball Betting – Exotic MLB Props
The MLB season seems long and dragged out, but for a couple months while we wait for NFL trainings camps to decide the 53-man rosters, betting baseball is the only game in town. Sure there is soccer, UFC, golf and NASCAR most weeks, but for the most part it is dry season. It’s no secret I love to bet, and spicing things up with some exotic MLB prop bets helps me curb my appetite.
Series Betting
Any online sportsbook worth its weight in feathers offers a wide variety of odds for Major League Baseball, and Series Price odds is one of them. Sportsbooks offer odds for either team to win the series based on the first three games.
For example, a recent series in Colorado where the Rockies were hosting the Padres for a three game set had Series Price odds set at Rockies -300 and Padres +240. Another example during the same week had the Nationals at -325 when the hosted the Phillies +195.
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There is real value to be had in some of these odds, and I enjoy betting them because it provides more entertainment value than straight bets. After the second game of a series you have either won or lost the bet or you are set up for the rubber match in Game 3.
Let’s take a quick look at the Nats/Phillies series. The day this series started was the day the Nationals put both Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper on waivers. Does this mean the Nats brass are throwing in the towel? The Cubs, perhaps worried about the Kris Bryant injury and looking to add infield depth, have already picked up Murphy but what does this do to the psyche of a guy like Harper?
Although Harper has been red-hot since winning the Home Run Derby, he’s still only batting .248 on the year, and has had lapses in concentration. Washington are lined up to start Roark and Strasburg in the first two with Philadelphia probable’s Velasquez and Eflin, setting up a heavyweight bout on Thursday when Scherzer and Nola square off. With all that is going on in the US Capitol, I like the value the Phillies are providing at +195. Value like these can be found in series betting regularly.
MLB Grand Salami
Betting the MLB Grand Salami is a lot of fun. MLB Grand Salami is a prop bet wagering on the total number of runs in every game on that particular day. All games must go 8.5 innings for there to be action. Top online sportsbooks offer odds for both Home vs. Away and Over vs. Under total runs.
The day I wrote this article had odds of -170 for the Home teams to score more runs with Away paying +150 (Home 62 – Away 55). The OVER/UNDER was set at 133.5 (for the record it was 117). If you are someone like me that has MLB.tv, and spends most nights surfing around from game to game, betting the Grand Salami can generate loads of entertainment.
When betting this proposition, there are a lot of factors to take into account. Things like starting pitchers, starting pitcher vs. batter stat history, hot and cold streaks, etc, but looking a little deeper into static factors can help you handicap. Factors such as how many games are being played at top run producing parks, or conversely, how many are being played at low run producing parks can be a contributing factor.
With the help from the Park Factors page on ESPN.com, we can see through most of August, the top producing parks in 2018 are Globe Life Park in Arlington (Texas), Progressive Field (Cleveland), Coors Field (Colorado), Wrigley Field (Chi-Cubs) and Yankee Stadium (NY-Yankees).
On the flip side, Citi Field (NY-Mets), Oakland Coliseum (Oakland), Marlins Park (Miami), Safeco Field (Seattle) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh) are the lowest run producing parks in the league.
Sure, there are many other factors that come into play, from injuries to errors or a bad bounce here or there, but by paying attention to which parks are hosting games on that particular night can help determine if the Grand Salami will go Over or Under.
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Another factor I love use is weather. This can be particularly true for some parks, whether it is wind that is the factor or hot humid air that helps the ball travel faster. They even introduced a humidor type contraption recently to help keep the balls in Arizona more under control.
I recently read an article how the hot humid air in Arlington and why it helps balls travel there. I am not going to get into the molecular state of the air, but the impact results with the ball traveling farther on a humid day than when there is less humidity. This article went on to explain how important it is for Major League pitchers to have dry hands in order to be able to execute all of their pitches.
That’s why you see pitchers bouncing the rosin bag off their forearms, because they are trying to mop up the sweat in that area in an attempt to stop it from dripping down into their hands. Obviously when it is that hot and humid, and you are standing on a big league mound facing a big league batter, you are going to sweat…everywhere. Including your hands. The result of this is pitchers are not going to be able to execute their pitches like in “normal” circumstances, which will benefit the hitters, in turn aiding them in scoring runs.
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As you can see there are a lot of factors that will come into play on any given night in the MLB. Take the time and do some homework to see if any factors that night will indicate an abundance of runs scored or if pitchers will have a leg up. Next time you log into your online sports betting account, take a look at some of the more exotic MLB odds, you may be pleasantly surprised. Anything to help us get to some meaningful football will help.