The pinnacle of baseball is the MLB from North America. It is the elite competition in the world for the sport and it’s where most of the world’s biggest talent plays. Major League Baseball was formed back at the start of the 20th century and it encompasses franchises from the USA and Canada.

The MLB is split across the American League and the National League, which provides a tremendous amount of matches in a single season. That gives rise to some top baseball betting opportunities as punters can look at individual matches and for longer forecasts of who may be the World Series Winners.

 

The MLB season

During an MLB season, there are a lot of matches played which raises huge amounts of live betting opportunities. Each of the Leagues in the MLB are split into three divisions (East, Central and West). But teams play not only fixtures against their divisional rivals, but from others in the league.

Scheduled within the season are also inter-league series as well when teams from the National and American leagues do battle.

The first hurdle for teams is to bank those positive MLB scores to reach the playoff bracket. Then from there, to work their way through to the famous World Series which is best-of-seven series to determine who is crowned the outright champions for that season. A popular MLB bet is to select the World Series winner ahead of the new season.

 

The World Series

The World Series winner is one of the biggest markets for baseball betting that punters jump onto pre-season. It is an accessible one, with the simple baseball betting call being made on the futures market of who will win the MLB’s biggest title.

After the long gruelling regular season and a trek through the playoff bracket, two teams are left standing for the baseball world series. One from the National League, one from the American League for all of the glory in America's Pastime. It’s the most intense time of the MLB season and for World Series betting, things like Series Correct Score can be sized up.

 

Popular MLB betting markets

There is such a wide variety of betting markets available for the MLB that it's often a good idea to tie things in with studying statistics of the sport. That can give rise to some unique betting strategies. How much does home field advantage count? Who is the starting pitcher? What is the head to head?

There is live betting to consider as well. There are a lot of pauses in baseball matches, making it a great sport when it comes to picking out bets while the action is ongoing.

There are long term MLB futures bets such as Division, League or World Series to consider, as well as shorter term prop bets such as team to win a particular series or a forthcoming MLB match. One beauty of the MLB is the season does incorporate a lot of midweek matches.

There are game-focused betting markets like the Total number of runs to be scored in a fixture, markets such as the straight Money Line or the Run Line (points spread equivalent) markets. Those are variations on the same theme of picking a match-winner from an MLB fixture.

 

What was the MLB Dead Ball Era?

In the early 1900’s changes to the sport saw runs become harder for batsmen to score. So MLB scores were down. A lot of it was because of the type and condition of the ball being used and the foul strike rule which meant foul balls were counted as strikes giving batsmen a disadvantage.

 

What is MLS Spring Training?

It is a series of exhibition matches and general practice that happens in the spring before the start of a regular season. There are training camps held in warmer climates and players have a chance to make the roster of their team.

 

When was the first All Star MLB game?

The first edition of the MLB All Star match was hosted in 1933 in Chicago. In the All Star Game, a team made up of National League players takes on a team made up of American League players. Fans vote for the starting fielders in an All Star match.

 

Do teams from different MLB leagues play each other?

Yes, while the World Series features a National League team against an American League team, interleague play throughout the regular season does also happen in the MLB. It is just on a more limited basis than teams playing opponents from their own league. Interleague play was introduced to the MLB in 1997.