Baseball Betting: A Guide to Understanding the Totals

I know that there are many of you baseball betting fans who believe that over/unders are much more practical than the betting action involved in trying to predict the winner of a game. You will see that some bookmakers will nod at this statement and it is evident because they actually put smaller betting limits on the over/unders compared to the amount they cap on betting on a team. It can either be against the money line betting system or the point spread.

For you who are new to baseball betting or just sports betting in general, over/unders are known as totals. An over/under in baseball betting and in sports betting in general is a type of betting opportunity which gamblers can take part of. In over/unders, the gambler is allowed to wager that the final score a game will come out over the bookie’s posted total or go under the number. In over/unders, the winner of the bet is chosen when the final score of both teams are added up. Actually, an over/under type of betting is popular because of its simplicity.

Here’s an example: Imagine that baseball team A and baseball team B are pitted against each other. The final score of the two teams total 40. So you go to a bookie and place your bet. You win the wager if team A wins 24 -17, but you would not win the wager if the combined total is just 38. If the final score is 40 then the bookies will consider that bet a push, or what is known as a tie. The money that you bet will be handed back to you.

When it comes to baseball betting, totals are pretty much the same as in hockey. In the over/unders, the bookie will post a number and you decide whether or the game will be over or under the total. The same concept or principal applies to football and basketball over/under betting. However, one difference is the amount of money a person must risk. Compared to the NBA or NFL scores, baseball and hockey is lower so the bookies are not that comfortable to change the total number. What these bookies will do is adjust the odds instead. An example is a game between the Giants and the Dodgers. The bookie set the number at 9. You have to give US$500 to bet on the over and do not expect the bookie to raise the total to 9.5. What the bookie will do is he will ask the bettors that want to risk betting on the over 9, to bet US$120 so that they can win $100.