MLB Live Betting Props

By Phil Simon

The inherent nature of the game makes Major League Baseball a popular game to wager on. It’s becoming more popular in the world of live betting with breaks between pitches and innings allowing sportsbooks to continuously update odds. You can wager on the basics that include the moneyline for an outright winner, the runline for how much a team wins by, and the total for combined runs scored in a game. Another form of in-game wagering has taken hold in the sports wagering community, and that’s on proposition bets. Prop betting is meant to be fun and it’s a unique way to stay involved with the game while waiting for a final outcome. We’ll discuss live betting and props in more detail.

What is MLB Live Betting?

We covered this in another article but for the sake of setting the table for MLB live betting props, we’ll touch on it again. The age of technology has allowed online sportsbooks to thrive with an offshoot of that being live betting. It’s exactly what the name says it is. You’re betting on a game in real time with odds updated as the action unfolds. The advantage is that you can get better odds on a big favorite if the start of the competition starts negatively for them.

There are drawbacks, though. The odds can change quickly so you better be paying attention. And sportsbooks usually have a limit on the amount of the bet. All markets are available for live betting, including the moneyline, total and runline. And the basics of sports betting apply just like a pregame wager. It’s not hard to find a sportsbook that offers live betting, and it would be a good idea to seek out a few to compare odds when you are thinking about placing a wager. Live betting is as simple as selecting your bet, putting money down and confirming the wager.

What is a Proposition Bet?

Bringing the article full circle let’s touch on proposition betting, or props as it’s known in the industry. These types of wagers are huge in the bigger sporting events. If you were paying attention to the Super Bowl you would have noticed the hundreds of additional props that were added at most sportsbooks. Prop betting gives you the chance to bet on events during the course of the game that aren’t related to the outcome or score of that particular contest.

Props do appear in regular season games, just on a much lower scale. Most of the options are player related with either a yes/no or over/under, simplifying the process of placing a wager. The bets come with odds so you can determine your payout based on the amount of money risked. Here’s an example of a player prop from the most recent World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. Tampa’s Randy Arozarena was on fire during the postseason and a prop surfaced whether he would hit a home run in Game 6.

Will Arozarena hit a home run in Game 6 ( +375 )

As you can see this is a straight forward yes bet. If you say ‘yes’ you are wagering that Arozarena goes yard. It wouldn’t be worth saying ‘no’ since the odds are way steep, and some books don’t even offer that option. At this price you would win $375 on a $100 wager should Arozarena hit a homer. By the way, he did go deep in this game for Tampa’s only run making a winner out of those who said ‘yes.’

With so many statistics available during baseball games there is never a shortage of props. You can wager whether or not the starting pitcher will have over or under a projected number of strikeouts. Clayton Kershaw had his strikeout total set at 6.5 in Game 1 of the World Series with the OVER at -167 on the betting line. Kershaw cashed the over with eight punchouts giving backers a $59.88 payout on a $100 bet.

The more sophisticated sportsbooks will offer in-game props based on the outcome of an at-bat or the results of an inning. One of the more popular props is if a team scores a run in the first inning. Other examples include a player getting hit by a pitch during the game, will a player hit a grand slam home run and will a particular player have a specific number of hits, RBIs, total bases or runs scored during the contest. Since sportsbooks don’t typically spend a lot of time or resources setting odds for props, it gives bettors a chance to cash a few tickets by doing their research.