The popularity of this sport crosses continental boundaries. Many countries have adopted baseball as one of the main sports practiced, such as Japan, in the Asian continent, and Venezuela, in South America and several other Central American countries, like Cuba, for example. Let’s first understand better how the dynamics of the game works, so that we can explore each of its possibilities in the betting market.

Baseball basics

For those who see it for the first time, baseball seems to be a very complex game, but there are basics to be able to understand better, so you can become a bettor in the sport.

Baseball can be played on an outdoor field or an indoor court. Two teams face each other, with nine players on each side. The games have nine periods with no set time limit. The most curious thing is that the players’ positions alternate during the game.

When we observe the game, we notice right away that there is a pitcher, who throws the ball in an imaginary area towards the opposing player, who tries to hit it with a bat. Right behind the so-called “hitter”, there is the catcher, who is also part of the pitcher’s team.

Contrary to what many people think, it is the batter who strikes out. The pitcher and the catcher try to defend themselves so that there is no hitting.

The batter’s objective, therefore, is to hit the ball with enough force so that it is out of the opposing team’s reach, and this hit is only valid when made in the direction of the field.

When everything happens correctly in the batting, the players from the attacking team try to run, always counterclockwise, to occupy new positions on the bases, of which there are four.

If the hitter manages to run through the four bases, automatically a point is awarded in favour of his team. When the ball is thrown out of the boundary towards the stands or outside the stadium, it is considered a home run that automatically awards a point to the batter’s team.

In this case, the official baseball field is diamond-shaped. It exists within limitations, one of which is the main area and the other, the secondary area. It is then marked by a square of 27.4 meters on a side that is placed in a semicircle.

Major Markets for Baseball Betting

As in most sports, there is a dispute between two teams and a detail that draws a lot of attention is that there is no possibility of a tie in baseball. So we already know that one of the teams will come out as the winner. The markets offered to bettors are not very different from the most common in sportsbooks. Let’s see below which are the main ones and how they are applied.

Still about ties in baseball, it is important to highlight that if the score is even until the ninth inning, another period is played, like an extra time, until a winner emerges.

Moneyline

The so-called Moneyline is the most common format of sports betting, here the main objective is to bet on the victory of one of the teams. In baseball the possibility of a tie is eliminated, as mentioned above. As a characteristic, moneyline does not ask for other numbers in the game to be matched, with only the winner’s choice being enough to award the prize.

Handicap

This is an additional challenge that can be set by you, in case there is an imbalance between the two teams playing. This is a market used quite a lot by those who bet on baseball, but this point is usually always at the discretion of the bookmaker.

So, to even things out, points are awarded as an advantage or disadvantage to one of the teams chosen in the bet. This changes the initial result of the match.

This kind of bet can add a lot of excitement to a game, which for those who are not yet familiar with the sport, can seem repetitive, especially during the regular season.

In this case, the so-called “Run Lines”, add 1.5 points to a team or subtract 1.5 from the opposing team.