Baseball is back on the betting board at your favorite online sportsbook. One of the most popular ways to bet on the games is by using the posted money line odds. An MLB money line handicaps the straight-up result for a game by increasing the financial risk to bet on the favorite. You can earn a higher return on your wager by betting on the underdog.
The first thing to remember about MLB money lines is they are not all created equal. If you are betting an NBA basketball game using the set spread, that number tends to stay the same from one online book to the next. You may find a half-point variance here and there, but for the most part, the spread for any NBA game remains relatively consistent.
That is not necessarily the case with MLB money lines. For example, Book A may have the New York Yankees listed as -130 home favorites, with the Tampa Bay Rays set as +110 road underdogs. This means you would have to risk $130 to win $100 betting New York to win. If you bet $100 on Tampa Bay to win the game, you would collect $110.
Book B offers dime lines for MLB games. This is where the difference between the two money lines is held at 10. The MLB dime line for the example above might read:
- Tampa Bay Rays +115
- New York Yankees -125
The difference between the two lines is only ten which benefits you betting this game either way. You would only have to risk $125 to win $100 on the Yankees as favorites. If you bet $100 on the Rays as road underdogs, you will collect $115 if they go on to pull off the upset.
As you can see, betting MLB dime lines can save you money on any wrong bets on favorites. They can also increase your winnings when betting on underdogs. This is a win-win that can add up to quite a bit of money over the course of the entire 162-game MLB season right into the postseason run to the World Series.
The best betting strategy for betting MLB money lines is to shop the numbers across multiple online books. Pinnacle and bet265 are two prominent offshore books that are extremely popular with US bettors. US sportsbooks such as FanDuel, DraftKings, and William Hill have a large following in states offering online sports betting through a mobile sportsbook app.
Once you find an online book offering added value in MLB dime lines, the next part of the process is developing a strategy for actually betting the games.
The betting public tends to lean heavily towards betting the favorite on a regular basis. This automatically adds value to the betting line for the underdog. If you remain confident that the favored team will go on to win, then look for the best value in the money line odds and place your bet.
You could also look for the best value in betting underdogs. The built-in edge is the zero juice or commission on your bet if you happen to lose. The added return on that money line when they do go on to win is the primary attraction of this type of bet. Even the best MLB teams are going to lose around 40% of the time.
