The Runline is the baseball equivalent to a Point Spread that you will find in Football and Basketball. It declares one team a favorite and one team an underdog in a baseball game. Let’s say the runline is 1.5 runs; the favored team will have a -1.5 runline and the underdog will have a +1.5 runline.

Essentially, this means that the favored team has to win by 2 runs in order to win on a runline bet. If the underdog wins or loses by 1 run, that team will win on a runline bet. The runline is different then a moneyline. The moneyline is a bet on which team will win without a handicap. The difference is that the runline is always going to have the same odds. Usually, you will have to bet $110 to win $100 with the $10 extra is the juice that a sportsbook charges you for placing the bet.

If this seems a little bit confusing to you because you’re a beginner, it is important that you learn about sports betting before you start placing bets. The last thing you want to do is be confused about a bet that you are placing.

Point Spread Betting

Point spread betting is said to have been invented in the 1940’s by Charles K. McNeil of Chicago. He was a math professor who used it in his own bookmaking operation. Whether or not this true is irrelevant; today point spread betting is the most popular way to wager on America’s two most frequently wagered upon sports football and basketball. The basic idea behind a point spread is in order to make the game closer to a 50/50 proposition a handicap is added.

For example, the opening round of the 2011/12 NFL playoffs had Detroit Lions +10.5 / New Orleans Saints -10.5. How this works is if you wager on Lions at the end of the game you add 10.5 points to the Lions score and then compare it to Saints actual score to determine who wins. Alternatively if you bet on New Orleans Saints then at the end of the game you would subtract 10.5 points from the Saints score and then compare it with the actual Lions score to determine which team wins.

Important to note is that all point spread wagers also have a price. With most all bookies and Las Vegas sports books if the price is not otherwise stated then -110 is assumed (Risk $110 to win $100, which simplifies as $1.10 staked for every dollar you wish to win). This extra price you’re charged is referred to as vig or juice and is how the betting sites and bookies make their profit. When betting online you’ll find prices often are listed and they’re not the same for both sides. For example you might find Detroit Lions -115 / New Orleans Saints -105. The reason for the difference is that bookies strive to find 50/50 propositions on betting lines, but sometimes this isn’t possible as one side is slightly more likely to cover at that point spread than the other.

There a few things about point spreads worth noting. In cases where point spreads have half points involved (example -2.5 / +2.5) there is no way for the game to tie. Point spread don’t always use half points however. In times the point spread is a whole number if the game results in a handicap tie it is considered a push, also referred to as no action. In this case all bets are off and stakes are returned. Additionally I should conclude by informing while point spreads are most popular in football and basketball they are available for other sports as well. For example in hockey and baseball alternatives to the moneyline are offered called the puckline and runline which are bets that use a point spread.

Did you know that you can bet on baseball from your mobile phone? There are a lot of mobile betting sites that allow you to bet on all sports from around the world. For the most part, this is going to work a lot easier for people who live outside of the United States.

Sites like Bet365 offers players the option to bet on everything from baseball, basketball, football, soccer, UFC, hockey and many more. They also offer a mobile betting service that you can access through most smart phones that have been created in the past 3 years. Some of the features that Bet365 offers includes Live In-Play betting and all of the Premiere League and other European Football Leagues. However, Bet365 does not currently offer services the United States.

There are a couple of US mobile sports betting sites that you can check out. While the sites suggested aren’t actually designed for your smartphone, you can visit their normal website from your mobile device and place bets like you would be able to do with a computer.

Currently, this is the off-season for baseball leagues and there isn’t very much in the way of betting on baseball. There are a couple of offseason leagues such as the Caribbean Leagues and the Australian Baseball League. But, the betting on these games isn’t very popular and you won’t find these events at many of the online sportsbooks.

Because sports betting is completely legal over in England and most of the rest of the world, the sportsbooks in the UK will often have better features such as mobile services specifically designed for iPhones and Android. These mobile betting apps are proving to be a very big success.

If we take Bet365 for example, not only do they offer in-play betting, but if you are using a iPad, iPhone or Android, you can also watch the live sporting events using their mobile app. Other sports betting sites will offer services such as live radio commentary and previews/predictions for the big games of the day.

One other thing that you will find at European sportsbooks are free bets. These free bets are normally between £/€10 and £/€25 but Bet365 offers a very large £200 bonus when you make a £200 deposit. These free bets can be used to make almost any bet on a sporting events. Some of these matchups may be disallowed from use with the bonus if the odds are too heavily stacked. The reason that they do this is because picking the heavy favourites is an easy way to try to clear the bonus without risking much.

If you want to win a lot of money betting on MLB baseball you need to continue reading…

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Today at 5:00, the Major League Baseball Playoffs begin with a one game playoff between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins.

Lets take a look how each of the teams fared against the Run Line this season and against each other.

Detroit Tigers

2009 Run Line Season Stats

• The Tigers were 69-93 against the Run Line in 2009.
• Betting the runline on Detroit every game would have lost you $2420.
• The Tigers were 35-46 against the Run Line on the road this year

Minnesota Twins

2009 Run Line Season Stats

• The Twins were 82-77 against the Run Line in 2009.
• Betting the runline on Minnesota every game would have won you $480.
• The Twins were 38-43 against the Run Line at home this year

Minnesota was 11-7 against the Tigers this year.

The Tigers were 30-59 as road underdogs this year.

The Twins were 23-7 after scoring 8+ runs.

Baseball-Systems.com picks for today:

Twins -1.5 +130 3 unit bet.

 Live Lines for all the baseball playoff games can be seen below.

Thursday’s April 9th Run Line Baseball System Plays:

• St. Louis Cardinal -1.5 +113
• San Diego Padres +1.5 -125
• Totonto Blue Jays -1.5 +185
• Minnesota Twins -1.5 +165
• Baltimore Orioles +1.5 +110
• Los Angeles Angels -1.5 +170

Yesterday’s picks:

• Florida Marlins -1.5 +160 WINNER
• Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 +155 LOSER
• Boston Red Sox -1.5 +145 LOSER
• Chicago White Sox -1.5 +180 LOSER
• Minnesota Twins -1.5 +135 LOSER (won by 1 run)
• San Diego Padres +1.5 -105 LOSER
• LA Angels -1.5 +135 LOSER (blew 4 run lead in the 8th)

Baseball Run line System Record
1-11, -9.45 units

The system has had some bad breaks early and a little unlucky.  I hope you haven’t scared you away with this start or forced you to get a cash advance to bail you out.

Lots of baseball games qualifying for the run line system today, and a few that are very close.

• Florida Marlins -1.5 +160
• Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 +155
• Boston Red Sox -1.5 +145
• Chicago White Sox -1.5 +180
• Minnesota Twins -1.5 +135
• San Diego Padres +1.5 -105
• LA Angels -1.5 +135  

When the normal money line is close to a pickem, the run line can flip back and forth on which team is getting the runs.  The difference in prices can be quite dramatic. For example, I have seen lines for a home team go from -1.5 +200 to +1.5 -160.

If you can get either the Phillies +1.5 or the Reds +1.5 for under -140 they both become plays.

Yesterday’s games:

• Philadelphia Phillies -1.5 +180 (80) - Lost outright
  
• Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 +170 (60) - Loss (won by 1 run)
• Minnesota Twins -1.5 +185 (70) - Loss (won by 1 run)
• LA Angels -1.5 +210 (90) - Lost outright

Running Totals:

Baseball Run line System Record
0-5, -5.0 units

Big day today, I count 4 runline plays so far.

• Philadelphia Phillies -1.5 +180 (80)
• Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 +170 (60)
• Minnesota Twins -1.5 +185 (70)
• LA Angels -1.5 +210 (90)

For you money line bettors, out of these games I would play Twins and Angels for sure.

Tough game yesterday with Arizona winning 9-8 but losing the run line.

Season Stats for the Run Line System:

• 0-1, -1.0 units

Only 1 play today so far, but I am pretty confident that the lines will move enough to qualify at least one more game today.

Arizona -1.5 +140 against Colorado

Game starts at 3:40PM.

Opening night baseball on ESPN tonight at 8:05 PM EST.  The Phillies are playing the Braves.

Over at our live run lines page< you can see the runline is now Philidelphia Phillies -1.5 +168 or Atlanta Braves +1.5 - 180 at 5dimes sportsbook.  By the way, 5dimes is currently offering a 50% sign up bonus with a max bonus of $200. If you don’t have the $200, a cheap cash advance is available conveniently online.

No runline system play tonight, as the line is set very close to my system line.  This happens a lot on days where there is only a few games.  I like the Braves to win outright tonight(and the over), but -180 is too steep a price to have to pay for the run and a half.

March 5th - No Picks

Tonight I will be posting opening day baseball runline picks for tomorrow, March 6th.

With the season starting in a couple of days, a breakdown of run line betting and a recap of the 2008 MLB baseball season in terms of runline betting is in order.

To those new to the site or new to run line betting, a runline is a type of baseball bet.  Baseball bets usually come in 3 different types:

• Run Line - the run line is kind of like a football betting line, only in baseball games the line is always -1.5 for the straight up favorite, +1.5 for the straight up underdog.
• Money Line - the baseball money line bet is simply a bet on who will win the game.
• Over/Under - the over/under bet is a bet on how many runs both teams will score combined.  This is often called a total as well.

Run Lines have gotten popular as a way to bet heavy favorites without having to risk large amounts of money.  It is not uncommon to see the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees favored in the -200 to -300 range for a money line bet.  At -300, you would have to wager $300 to win $100.

Here is an example of the relationship between the run line and money line.  The last game of the World Series had a money line of

Philadelphia Phillies -165
Tampa Bay Devil Rays +155

and a run line of

Philadelphia Phillies -1.5 +120
Tampa Bay Devil Rays +1.5 -140

So, betting on the Phillies to win straight up, you have to wager $165 to win $100.  Betting on the Phillies to win by 1.5 runs (by 2 runs or more since there is no .5 run in a baseball game), you have to wager $100 to win $120.

The Phillies won the game 4-3, so the money line bet on the Phillies was a winner, but a run line bet on the Phillies was a loser as they only won by a run.  Tampa Bay +1.5 is a winner as they lost by 1.

A couple of things to mention to new baseball bettors with this example in mind:

• You can see the juice or the vig or whatever you want to call the sportsbooks way to make money with both of these lines.  If their was no juice you would see +165/-165 line on the money line.  But, there is a $10 difference between the two.  This is often called a “10 cent” line.

• You can see a $20 difference in the run line (-140/+120), and this is usually the norm that runlines have “20 cent” lines.
• Often times the underdog in a straight up line becomes the “favorite” in the runline, as seen by our example.

The stats below show the baseball teams records against the run line.  Wins and Losses are against the run line.  “$ On” indicates the amount you would be up or down if you bet $100 to win $xxx or $xxx to win $100, depending on if they were the favorite or the underdog.  Conversly, “$ Against” indicates if you were to bet against that team every run line game.

Anything stand out here?  Teams in bold made the playoffs, and I would assume that most of them would be on the top half of this chart.  The Twins, Astros, Cardinals, and Marlins are a little surprising to me to be up that high. The Dodgers, Brewers, and Phillies being so low is very surprising.

Remember that home teams are generally going to be favored and giving -1.5 in exchange for +xxx odds.  The Twins were very good at covering the spread as a home team, which is why they were so high up on the main chart.  Also notice that 14 of the 30 teams showed a positive return for all games.

Remember here that road teams often are getting the extra 1.5 runs, but in exchange have to put up greater odds to get them.  That is why the $ on category is so different for similar records between home and away.  Also notice that only 8 teams showed a positive return on betting all road games.

That’s it for now.  See you Sunday for opening day.