Find how How baseball betting works with our betting guide!
MLB is the biggest baseball league on the planet and attracts the best players each year. And here at Unibet we recognise the importance of Major League Baseball to millions of fans.
Which is why we’ve decided to include baseball betting on our Canadian Sportsbook. You can choose to look up the latest baseball & MLB betting odds & bet on ball games whenever and wherever you like from Canada!
As a baseball fan you might love the option to bet on live games as well as betting on winners of major tournaments like the World Series.
Unibet Canada has the latest technology to ensure you can bet however you like, with ever-changing live odds and varied betting options to suit every player.
But baseball fans who are new to the world of sports betting may be daunted by the scale of the betting options on offer. That’s why we’ve created this guide on how to bet on baseball where you can get greater insight into how baseball betting actually works.
Once you finish this guide you'll know how to bet on baseball from Canada as well as all the jargon associated with betting on this sport.
We can also recommend you to check out sports betting guide where you can find intel on more sports and leagues.
How baseball works — the basics
The basic rules of baseball are very straightforward. Two teams take it in turns to bat and field, with the team that scores the most runs the winner. Matches take place over nine innings, and during each innings the teams swap over the batting / fielding duties.
A baseball batter scores runs by hitting the ball either beyond the field boundaries (for a home run) or by running between the four bases in a diamond shape out on the field. They may only be able to run to one base after hitting the ball themselves, but can run to further bases when a team-mate hits the ball.
The fielding team has a pitcher who throws the ball from a central mound towards the batter. The pitcher aims to get the batter out, ideally through strikes. A strike is awarded when the batter swings for the ball and misses, or leaves the ball which flies into a specific zone within the batter’s range. Three strikes and you’re out.
A batter can also be out if a fielder catches the ball they hit without it bouncing first. Or if the ball is thrown to a base before the batter reaches it. After three outs, the team’s innings is over and both sides swap positions.
There are nine innings each, so plenty of opportunities for both sides to score runs. Fielding teams will typically select a starting pitcher who will throw for the majority of the game. But they have specialised pitchers for later in the game when things get tight.
All players who field also get the chance to bat, making MLB a less specialised sport than, for example, NFL. It means players can excel not only at catching and throwing, but also slugging the ball.
What Are The Different types of bets in baseball betting
Baseball is popular in the USA and Canada, as well as parts of Europe and Asia. Away from the MLB, the big baseball leagues are found in Japan and Mexico. Baseball fans are always on the lookout for a game and luckily the MLB offers 2,340 games per season, plus the playoffs! That is a lot of games for which to bet on.
Moneyline bets
Most baseball fans stick to betting on moneylines. Moneylines bets are a great place to start when you're new to betting on baseball as it is simply a bet on who will win the game. Because there are no ties in baseball, moneylines only have two outcomes: win or lose . So you can either bet on the favourite or the underdog. Underdogs in baseball games will get you better odds.
Moneylines are the most popular bets in almost every sport on Unibet's sportsbook. But quite often the odds in moneylies can run low. That’s because a game might be uneven, with a heavy favourite someone up against a lowly underdog. In this instance, you would have to stake a lot of money on the favourite for the baseball game, in order to earn a respectable amount back.
Spreads in Baseball
On Unibet you can bet on point spreads in many sports including baseball. A point spread is the number of points the favourite is expected to win by. In baseball that would be runs which is why spreads are often called "run lines" in baseball.
In spread bet you bet on whether the favourite will cover the spread (or win by the predicted margin).
This is what spreads look in baseball:
- Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 (-180)
- San Diego Padres +1.5 (+150)
How to read runlines in baseball
In our example the line for this spread is 1.5.
The minus (-) sign next to the line tells you which team is the favourite for this baseball game.
In our example, that would be the Blue Jays because the line for the Blue Jays is set at -1.5.
The reason the favourites have a minus sign (-) next to their line is that they're being given a hypothetical disadvantage as they are the favourites while the underdog (the Padres in our example) are given +1.5 advantage.
The odds for each outcome is on the right (-180 for the Blue Jays and +150 for the Padres),
If you bet on the favourites they'll have to win by more than 1.5 runs or at least runs for you to win your bet.
If you bet on the underdgo they'll have to win the game or lose by fewer than 1.5 points ( or 1 run in our example).
Over/under bets
Over/Under betting is another bet you'll come across in baseball. is especially useful in this sport because of the scoring system. Over/Under betting works by placing a bet on whether or not you think the maximum number of runs in a game will be over or under a certain line. For example, you could bet on there being +9.5 total runs in a match between the Giants and Twins. If there are 10 runs or more, you win your bet.
Over/Under betting can also be done on individual teams. So, if you think the Twins will score fewer than 6.5 runs against the Giants, you can make that bet. If the Twins score six runs or fewer, you win your bet.
Parlays
Parlays are one of the most popular bets in baseball. This is when you effectively combine two or more of your betting picks, in order to enhance your odds. Parlay bets will offer an outcome of, for example, moneyline and Total Runs 9.5. Here, there are four possible picks you can make for your parlay in baseball game:
- Pick 1: Favourite
- Pick 2 over 9.5
- Pick 3 Bet on the underdog
- Pick 4 Bet on under 9.5
You pick the bet you want to make, with odds differing depending on which outcome you go for.
You can also bet on events midway through games, such as Lead After 5 Innings. This is a great way to follow a bet that won’t necessarily take three hours to settle. It’s a lot like a half time bet in soccer, or a first quarter lead bet in basketball. Effectively, you bet on who will be winning at a certain stage of the baseball game.
Live betting
Here at Unibet we’re dedicated to bringing you the best live betting experiences in baseball . And that’s why we offer live betting on all matches during the seasons of popular baseball leagues. Live betting differs from pre-game betting because you can bet live while the action is unfolding. Of course, that means the odds are always changing, because events on the field will increase and decrease the likelihood of certain results.
Many baseball fans like to drop live bets on run totals. This is where you bet on a team to score a certain number of runs, or score more or less runs in an Over/Under bet. Of course, the odds will change if the team hits a home run, or gets a number of their batters out to bases on the field.
The beauty of live betting is that it’s all about timing — and you’re in control of that. It’s up to you to decide when to bet and what to bet on. Many shrewd betting fans like to bet early in games. But some will wait until the ninth inning before making their move.
Futures
Outright betting is not only based on results of matches, but also results of competitions. In outright betting, you can make season-long bets on which team you think will win the World Series. The World Series is the final set of games in the MLB season, when all 30 teams have been whittled down to just two.
You can bet on which team will win the World Series before the season has even begun! You can also bet on the MVP from a season, as well as which players will score the most runs / take the most strike outs over a campaign.
There really is no limit to outright betting in the MLB and here at Unibet we’re always on hand to offer more exciting, details markets for our players.
If you liked our guide on how to bet on baseball, make sure you check our our baseball betting tips!