The World Series is set. The Philadelphia Phillies will take on the Houston Astros in the 2022 World Series. All of the teams in Major League Baseball completed their 162-game march through the regular season, with hopes to secure a berth in the playoffs and, eventually, the World Series.
BET WITH TIPICO IN:
This means it’s time for you to start thinking about how to bet on the World Series.
The World Series is here. October baseball is here, and it’s time to start strategically sports betting now. Starting early will give you plenty of time to place wagers and gain confidence throughout the regular season. Let’s look at some of the bets that’ll be available to you and a handful of helpful strategies to help you pick the winners of 2022’s fall classic.
Before diving into the types of bets you’ll be able to place on this year’s World Series, let’s first take a look at some strategies to help you pick who the winner will be. Every baseball season is full of twists and turns, so trying to figure out who will come out on top this early may seem daunting. But it’s worth remembering that even small bets can have major payouts when they’re placed in advance, so sprinkling some action on your favorite teams may lead to a grand slam for your bank account.
But which teams should you be betting on in our MLB sportsbook? At this point, it’s hard to know based on on-field results alone, but we can look at some historical trends that might help guide the way:
It’s too early to tell how this will change the playoffs, but this year’s script may be a bit different than what we’re used to seeing.
Now that we know some of the trends worth considering, what can we do with that information to place a smart World Series bet? There are many different types of baseball bets available to you when it comes to World Series betting. You can start placing some of these bets now, whereas others will have to wait until the final matchups are set.
Let’s start with the type of bet you can place immediately. A futures bet is, in simplest terms, a betting option on what will happen in the future. Of course, all betting is technically a bet on the future, but in the case of a World Series futures bet, you’re looking well ahead to the end of the season.
Right now, sportsbooks will have odds that represent each team’s chances of winning the World Series. Let’s look at some hypothetical World Series odds:
What do these odds mean? If you were to take $100, bet it on the Astros, and they went on to win the World Series, you would win $153. If you made the same bet on the Phillies, you could win $250. This is because the books have deemed the Astros as the favorite to win the World Series and the Phillies are placed as underdogs.
As you can see, an MLB future bet can have a sizable payout if it wins. The downside is they’re challenging to predict, since World Series betting odds can change quite a bit. You probably don’t want to put too much money into futures so early in a season, but sprinkling a little bit on your favorite teams can lead to a major windfall down the line.
If you’re not quite ready to bet on your World Series pick yet, there are still plenty of betting options available to you. One of the most straightforward ways is through moneyline betting. While you won’t be able to place moneyline bets on the World Series itself until the matchup is set, you can bet on any game or series throughout the season.
Let’s look at how the odds for Moneyline bets work. Let’s say the Boston Red Sox are playing the Baltimore Orioles in a division series:
In this example, the Red Sox are favored to win the game, indicated by the minus sign before their odds. That means you would have to bet $159 to win $100 on the Red Sox. Conversely, if you bet $100 on the Orioles, you could win $140.
If you’re familiar with college football betting, you’re probably familiar with a spread bet. In these bets, college football sportsbooks even the odds by setting a “spread.” The spread is the number of points that the favorite has to win by to be considered the winner. So if the spread is 6, the favorite has to win by more than 6 to win the bet. If you bet the underdog, the bet triumphs if they win the game outright—or if they lose by less than 6.
Spread betting in baseball is a little different because run totals are generally lower than point totals are in football. Because of that, the spread (sometimes referred to as the “run line”) tends to be much lower. The most common run line you’ll see is 1.5 runs. Let’s go back to our previous example:
In this example, the Astros now have to win by 2 or more runs for a bet on them to payout. Now, Houston are favored to win this bet, resulting in a $145 payout by wagering $100 on the Houston. Alternatively, a $100 bet on the Phillies will pay $75. If you think the ‘Stros will win big, you get a higher payout with this style of bet.
There’s still an opportunity for you to win your wager through totals bets. These bets are also referred to as over/unders and have nothing to do with who wins or loses. Instead, you’re betting on the final score.
Let’s look at the 2022 World Series matchup:
The total has been set at 10.5 runs. The top line represents what you’ll win if you bet the over, and the bottom line shows what you’ll win betting the under. In this case, the over pays $100 for a $100 bet, whereas on the under, you’d need to bet $125 to win $100.
If you think this matchup will be a slugfest, then bet the over and root for a high-scoring game. You can be a winner regardless of which team comes out on top.
Baseball betting can be tough to understand, especially for those new to betting. Read up on how to read baseball betting lines before placing your first bet this MLB season.
The final type of bet you can utilize when the World Series rolls around is a prop bet. In this type of bet, you’re not betting on the outcome of the game but rather on what will happen during the game. Some examples of typical prop bets are:
Remember, these are just a few examples. There is an abundance of prop bets, and different books will often offer different bets.
As you can see, there are many ways for you to bet on the World Series—both before and after the teams are set. There are also plenty of opportunities to bet throughout the season so that you can build your bankroll ahead of the big games. Some of these include the MLB All Star Game and the Home Run Derby. For more information on betting on the Home Run Derby, our blog can help you know what to expect so you can go into All Star Weekend with confidence.
If you’re ready to start taking bets on the MLB World Series odds, there’s no better place to get started than Tipico’s online sportsbook. In addition to the bets listed here, we offer live betting (where you bet on games as they’re being played) and parlay options (where you combine bets for higher paydays). That way, you’ll be able to tap into every opportunity to get in on the action and come out a winner.
BETTING GUIDES:
Tipico Sportsbook supports responsible gaming year-round; learn more and find resources at the AGA’s “Have a Game Plan“.
