Most sharp baseball bettors avoid taking action because it gives up an element of control and negates all of your previous analysis. That means that even if there is a pitching change, you would be locked into your original bet with a revised moneyline based on the new pitchers. If you take “action”, all moneyline wagers will be valid. Justin Masterson in Saturday’s Cleveland example), then your bet would be canceled if the expected starter is scratched before the first pitch. That means if you take the “listed” pitcher (i.e. If you choose to bet the “listed” starting pitcher, your bet will only be valid if the pitchers listed at the time you placed your wager take the mound as scheduled. These types of last-minute swaps are surprisingly commonplace, which is why most sportsbooks will offer the option of taking “listed pitcher” or “action” when placing a moneyline bet. That’s a 55-cent line move based on a pitching change. When the line re-opened, the Indians were installed as +165 ‘dogs. The game was taken off the board and Carlos Carrasco was named the new starting pitcher.

Justin Masterson was initially listed as a +110 underdog before being scratched just hours before first pitch.

However, unlike other sports the betting line for a baseball game is dictated in large part by the starting pitcher for that day.Īs an example, we’ll look at a 2013 game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. With 162 games per season and very precisely defined statistics, there is a large pool of data available for creating winning betting systems.īefore the start of every new season, we detail the sweet spots for betting against the public in baseball and we constantly preach the importance of shopping for the best line before placing your wager. Although it may not be as popular in the betting community as fan-favorites football and basketball, the sharpest bettors relish the MLB season as it is arguably the best sport to wager on.

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