MLB betting guide 2025: What to know about betting on MLB

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MLB betting has grown rapidly in recent years. Fans of Major League Baseball have a good variety of options as to which websites or apps, or even in-person sportsbooks. Consider this a guide to betting on MLB games, props and futures for any interested parties.

Betting on baseball can look complicated to beginners, but there are ways to simplify the betting process. Where baseball differs from football and basketball, for example, is that the money line is much more heavily used while the run line (in other sports, you'll hear this one called the "point spread") is generally always 1.5. The total is the total number of runs scored by both teams. Player props cover a myriad of different stats, given how many stats are used in baseball.

Finding the best U.S. sportsbook for MLB betting

Sportsbook	Promo	Promo code
DraftKings	Bet $5, get $300 in bonus bets if your first bet wins	None required
FanDuel	Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins	None required
Fanatics	Bet and get up to $1,000 in No Sweat Bets	None required
Caesars	Bet $1, double your winnings on your next 10 bets	CBSDYW
BetMGM	Up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses	CBSSPORTS
bet365	Bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets win or lose	CBSBET365

The first thing a new bettor should do when looking to dip their toes into baseball betting is check out the look and feel of all the sportsbooks. There are always a variety of offers for new users, for example, a "free home run play". With this promo, you can choose a player to hit a home run that day, and if you get it right, receive bonuses from the sportsbook. Here are a couple of frequent examples:

DraftKings often offers a "no sweat" token for a home run bet.
FanDuel sometimes gives a 30% profit boost token to use on any MLB game. That means you'd get a 30% larger payout on any winnings.

More of these will pop up throughout the season, but especially in the summer months between basketball and football seasons, when the gambling community at large is starving for more sports betting.

Making sure to "shop around" is key. There aren't always huge advantages, but when locking in on a play for the night, sometimes better odds can be found by perusing different sports betting apps. For example, if you really like the Yankees to win that night, it's possible to find them to win at -125 on the money line on several sites, but then stumble upon them sitting at -118 somewhere else. Finding the most favorable number is a good way to win on the margins and increase your potential winnings in the long run.

How to bet on an MLB game

Generally speaking, a bettor will find the "MLB" tab on a sportsbook. From there, every game for the day's MLB action will be listed along with the starting pitchers.

The primary markets with every game will be the run line (spread), total, and money line.

Run line

What is known as the point spread in other sports is referred to as the "run line" in baseball betting. It will nearly always be 1.5. This means that the betting favorite team is favored to win by 1.5 runs. Simply, if you believe a team will win by at least two, this is the play, as the run line will have better odds than just a money line play.

On the other hand, if you believe an underdog will play close and maybe win, but you also like the cushion, taking the +1.5 runs means you'd cash your bet with an outright win or a one-run loss from that team.

Total

Also known as the over/under, this is simply the total number of runs scored by the two teams. A 6-4 final score is 10 runs on the total, so it would hit the Over on 9.5 or the Under on 10.5.

Keep in mind that runs scored in extra innings count toward the total.

Money line

This is simple. It is just a bet on which team you think will win the game. The odds will generally show the underdog with a +, such as +125, meaning you can bet $100 to profit $125. The opposite is the case with the favorites, as -125 means you bet $125 to profit $100.

The money line bets are the most common plays, but any of the three options here are pretty common and easy to understand, especially once a user has gotten a little betting experience.

MLB prop betting

There are so many prop bets in baseball betting. Bettors can wager on (among other things) hits, runs, home runs, RBI, total bases, stolen bases, singles, doubles, triples and walks, and that's just pertaining to batters. For pitchers, some available props are strikeouts, outs recorded, to record a win, hits allowed, earned runs allowed and walks allowed.

The setup on any of these will be a total, also known as an "over/under". Some sportsbooks also offer options to select one or more, two or more or so on for each player in those categories, with each successive tally coming at higher odds. For example, Francisco Lindor may have odds of -210 to record a hit in a given game, while being priced at +260 to record two or more and +1300 to record three or more.

Hits + Runs + RBI

There's also an increasingly popular combination prop of H+R+RBI (hits plus runs plus RBI). The line is often set at 1.5, but it depends on the level of player; sometimes with outstanding hitters like Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge, it's 2.5. Just add the hits, runs and RBI. For example, if Judge goes 1-for-4 with a solo home run, that's one hit, one run and one RBI – a total of three, and therefore a win for Over 2.5.

Team total

There's also a popular team-level prop most commonly referred to as the team total. It refers to runs scored by that team, so if you hear someone refer to the "Dodgers team total," it's just how many runs the Dodgers score in that game.

First X innings

Game bets can also be shortened to the first three innings, first five innings or first seven innings. That is, one could play the money line in the first five innings for a team with an excellent starting pitcher but a bad bullpen, to avoid the risk the bullpen would bring in the late innings.

First inning run

Further, an interesting prop that some bettors love playing is first-inning runs scored. The line is basically always 0.5, so the "no run first inning" play has become popular (even referred to as NRFI or pronounced "nerfy").

MLB parlays

Generally speaking, MLB bettors can parlay almost any bets together in an attempt to ratchet up the possible winnings, but MLB bets are incredibly difficult to win anyway, so parlay bets become increasingly tough with each additional leg. There's a reason the odds look so appealing.

Several sites will offer different promos for parlays together at the top of the webpage/app. Caesars Sportsbook is big with this. It will often pair two players on the same team to both hit home runs with the team logo and significant odds shown in the graphic. It'll also name groups of bets, such as "Base Secured" and show how much a $20 bet would win if all five of the listed bets come through.

MLB futures betting

MLB has so many divisions and awards, so there are always ample opportunities to grab futures bets. At any given point from spring training until the playoffs, an MLB bettor could find odds for a plethora of markets, including the following:

World Series champion
American League champion
National League champion
Division winner for any of the six divisions
MVP winner (AL and NL)
Cy Young winner (AL and NL),
Rookie of the Year (AL and NL)
Manager of the Year (AL and NL)
To make the playoffs

There are even chances for "division finish exactas," which means correctly slotting the finish of each of the five teams from a given division (for example, picking the NL West correctly in 2024 as Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, Giants, Rockies).

Further, stat winner futures are also available if a gambler wants to bet on who will lead the majors in hits, runs, RBI, home runs, doubles, triples, stolen bases, wins, strikeouts, ERA or saves.

When we're looking at team props in the playoffs, specifically to win the World Series, keep in mind how much of a crapshoot the Major League Baseball playoffs can be. This game is meant to be played over large samples and playoff series are small samples, so upsets and general chaos happen often.

This means overwhelming favorites to win the World Series don't have the greatest odds and throwing a few bucks on a dark horse could yield a huge return. Look at the 2023 Rangers winning the World Series and the 84-win Diamondbacks winning the NL. Bettors who jumped on those teams even when the playoffs started would've won huge.

MLB live betting

Throughout any given game, a bettor can click on that game on any sportsbook app and find the chance to live bet the game. The money line, total and run line are constantly updating, generally with every at-bat.

At this point, sportsbooks are now allowing so-called micro betting, which would be the outcome of an individual at-bat or even an individual pitch.

MLB betting tips and advice

Major League Baseball has an almost excessive volume of statistics, and most are used to evaluate players over the long haul. You'll hear things about "small sample size," and the problem with attempting to use long-term stats to bet on a game with small-sample outcomes is that there's just far too much variance to be able to rely upon a few stats as linchpins for betting advantages.

This is to say that, specifically, the best pitcher in baseball could be torched by the worst offense in baseball in any given game.

This all means that it is incredibly tough to find advantages in daily betting on baseball. Even with recent rule changes, the betting market immediately reacts. For example, stolen bases have increased as a result of bigger bases and limited throws by the pitcher to first base, but the betting markets set pretty good stolen base totals nearly immediately. The ban of the infield shift was supposed to increase batting average – and, for baseball betting purposes, hits – but the result was pretty negligible. The use of openers instead of starting pitchers makes it a bit tougher to play pitcher props, as the books usually keep the opener off the board.

So, where can we focus?

In general, the best advantages are going to be minimal, but they can be found in some simple, perhaps old-school areas.

Look at splits

Ballparks are a big deal here. Some teams are much better offensively, at pitching, or both, at home or on the road. As the season progresses, these types of trends will emerge, and it should be much easier to bet on MLB in August than in April. Splits are also a big deal. That is, does a team hit much better or worse vs. left-handed pitchers as compared to right-handed pitchers?

Advanced metrics and expected stats

As for individual player props, there could be openings when a player has been far too lucky or far too unlucky. Specifically, if an offensive player has been hitting terribly so far, do his readings like exit velocity and expected batting average, not to mention a good past track record, point to a hot streak coming? If so, it might be a good time to start playing his props.

Gameday weather

Also, the weather should always be monitored, and some avenues on the total could be found here. If it's going to be cold, expect fewer runs. If it's going to be hot and humid, that's an environment where more runs will be scored. This should go hand-in-hand with the ballpark analysis.