How to Bet on Baseball: What is a Prop Bet
We recently wrote an article on how to bet on baseball. This covered the basics. But, if you’re looking for ways to wager baseball other than moneyline vs spread, and over/under betting, MLB prop bets are a great option. With over 750 players and 30 teams playing 162 games nearly every day and night from April 1st through October, MLB prop bets give new gamblers a way to enjoy season-long bets on their favorite teams and players. And thanks to the growing popularity of daily fantasy sports, gamblers can even bet on individual player performances within a single game.
If you aren’t sure how to bet MLB player or game props, then Smart Sports Bet has you covered. In this blog, we’re going to teach you what you need to know to confidently bet these “propositions” based on a season’s worth of performance, or just 9 innings.
What are MLB Prop Bets and Where Do I Bet Them?
In short, a prop bet is based on whether something happens, either during the game or throughout an entire season. The most traditional prop bet is a team’s entire win total; if you think the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to win more than 58.5 games in 2021, you might want to bet the over. If not, you’d bet the other side of this proposition, that the Pirates will win less than 58.5 games for the under.
You can also bet on player of the year awards, for instance the NL Rookie of the Year. The sports books will offer odds on these prop bets; favorites like Ke’Bryan Hayes have the shortest odds (currently +350 according to Vegas Insider), whereas other rookies have longer odds like Josiah Gray of the LA Dodgers at +4000. Technically, prop bets that span an entire season are futures bets, but they fall into the proposition category because the outcomes don’t directly depend on the outcome of a game.
Most of the major sports books offer proposition bets on Major League Baseball. If you live in one of the dozen states that currently allow online sports betting, you have a range of options from traditional sportsbooks like Bovada, BetOnline and Bet365 to recent entrants like FanDuel, DraftKings, and Barstool. Any of these online betting sites should offer the range of baseball prop bets from player stats and awards, team win totals, and team playoff expectations.
What are the Different Types of MLB Prop Bets?
Now that you know the basics about baseball props, let’s take a closer look at the different types.
Individual Player Over/Under Betting Statistic Prop Bet
For the most basic prop bet, you can simply place a wager on any player you believe will go Over/Under their predicted total season statistic in certain individual categories like home runs, RBI's, or hits over the full course of the season.
For instance, you may see that Fernando Tatis Jr., the popular San Diego Padres star shortstop has predicted totals of:
35.5 Home Runs -110
101.5 RBI -110
168.5 Hits -110
In this case you can make an online baseball prop bet on whether you think he will go over or under those predictions. The odds are -110 so you risk $11 to win $10 or $110 to win $100.
Individual Player Award Prop Bets
Now let’s say you’re interested in betting on an individual player to win a particular full season award such as Most Valuable Player (MVP). This can be quite profitable since in nearly all cases picking the eventual winning player can return positive or plus odds. In other words, odds that are better than the standard -110 you’ll see on most individual player statistics.
Let’s use Tatis as an example again, because he’s the favorite to win the NL MVP by nearly all media and betting sites. However, his odds are still favorable at +900, meaning you could wager $10 on this prop bet and earn a return of $90 (or $900 on a $100 bet). Granted, it’s a long MLB season and anything can happen, but this is a fun flyer to take, especially if you’re a Padres fan!
You can also bet other season long awards, for example the Cy Young award that is given to the best pitcher in either league. You’ll get positive odds for this prop bet as well, as we see with AL pre-season favorite and New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. His odds to win the Cy Young are +350, less than Tatis for MVP but still a plus bet.
The Daily Individual Player or Build a Team Prop Bet
One of the most popular MLB prop bets is the daily construction of a team where a bettor makes his own daily lineup of players who they feel will produce the most positive statistics on a single day of baseball games. The number of hits, homers, RBI, stolen bases, runs scored, and also pitching stats such as strikeouts, era, and whip are totaled and whichever team has amassed the best stats wins that day and the money! Daily fantasy baseball wagering and online Major League baseball prop are some of the most popular and profitable ways to bet.
You can also bet individual player props for a given game. For example, you could bet on whether Javier Baez will hit a homerun in his game tonight against the Braves, or how many strikeouts the starting pitcher will have. These types of individual prop bets are offered game-by-game, and can even include offers like which team will score first, or get to a certain number of runs. These aren’t always the best bets on the board, but if you like action then prop bets can definitely give it to you!
The Team Win Total Over/Under Prop Bet
The traditional prop wager for Major League Baseball team betting is the projected team win total Over/Under. For this type of wager your book will set a total number of games a particular MLB team is predicted to win over the full season.
For example in 2021 the New York Yankees have a predicted win total of 95.5 regular season games. In this case a bettor would choose to bet on whether they think the Yankees will go Over/Under that predicted win total. Betting the Over/Under is easy, the odds are similar to the traditional sports where the risk is $11 to win $10 or $110 to win $100.
The Team Playoff Odds Prop Bet
Our last type of MLB prop bet is a wager on whether a particular team will win their division, win their league, or win the World Series. In many cases the odds on these prop bets will be positive, especially for the AL/NL champion and World Series champion. These would be plus bets just like season long player awards. Again, looking at the Yankees, many oddsmakers have them listed as follows:
Win Al East Division -200 risk $20 to win $10
Win Al Championship +240 risk $10 to win $24
Win World Series +550 risk $10 to win $55
A bettor can take a position on any of these online baseball prop bets as well as also wagering on whether the Yankees will even make the playoffs or not. These odds are expressed as: NYY make playoffs -$1,000, or NYY NOT make playoffs +$600
In this case if a bettor wanted to wager that the Yankees would make the playoffs they would need to risk $1,000 to win $100. However, if they predict the Yankees would NOT make the playoffs and they were right, they would risk $100 and win $600.
The Prop Conclusion
So there you have it, everything you need to know about MLB prop bets. They can be a great way to bet a small amount for a high reward and enjoy that action all season long, or load up on a big game to get a lot of action on the table. They’re a fun way to gamble, but make sure you pay attention to the odds and don’t get carried away. Good luck and as always, be responsible with your gambling; always bet with your head and not over it!