Summer is right around the corner, and for most Belmont betting fans, that means it is one again time to wager on your favorite MLB teams. Each year from April to October, MLB betting lines receive a plethora of action, as bettors focusing on the NFL, NBA, and NHL turn their attention to the boys of summer. Today, we will be showing you how to bet on baseball.

There are three main ways to bet on baseball, the money line, the run line and totals. Here is how each of the money and run line appears.

Money Line – Known as the universal straight bet, your goal on the money line is to risk money on the team you believe will win the game outright. For the favorite, you will have to bet more to get back less, since they are the team expected to win. Conversely, if you take the underdog, you have to risk less to get back more since the sportsbook expects them to lose. Here is how a money line appears.

Toronto Blue Jays +165

Cleveland Indians – 180

In this example, fans betting on the Cleveland Indians have to risk $180 to get back $100, since the Indians are the team the sportsbook expects to win. On the other hand, Jays fans only have to risk $100 to get back $165 since they are expected to lose.

Run Line – The run line, similar to the puck line in NHL betting, gives the underdog a one and a half run advantage before the game starts. What this means, is that in order to take the underdog you have to risk more to get back less, since they only have to lose by a run or win the game outright to make your bet a winner. Whereas, the favorite has to win by at least two runs to win the wager. Here is how it appears.

Toronto Blue Jays +1.5 (-180)

Cleveland Indians -1.5(+165)

In this example, Jays fans have to risk $180 to get back $100, since Toronto only has to lose the game by a run in order to win the run line. On the contrary, Cleveland fans only need to risk $100 to get back $165 because the Indians have to win the game by two runs to win the bet.