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As a person familiar with baseball handicapping it is important to not have a favorite team. Betting with your heart can be costly. But there is one team this season that as a handicapper you really can not help but take a liking to them.

Ask most handicappers what is their favorite team and they will tell you whatever team they have money on. Well that maybe true but what about a team that has a record over .500 and is consistently an attractive high paying underdog. Making it even better, out of the first 39 games this 2010 season this team was only a favorite twice. They have a ROI (Return on Investment) of 10.6 units. Is that any good? The team is the Washington Nationals of the National League East Division.

What I am saying that the Nationals have been listed as an underdog 37 out of 39 games this season yet they have a winning record. How can that be you may ask. If you would have bet $100 on the Nationals every game this season you would have a profit of $1060. Not bad since all you would have to do is just bet the Nationals nothing else considered. The general betting public is stuck thinking the Nationals are a lousy team with no talent. Sometime I wonder do some of these people even look at the standings.

To make things even more interesting, the Nationals this season while playing at home have won 58% of their games. 17 of those 19 home games the Nationals were listed and the underdog. Why people don’t realize this shows that the average person betting on a ballgame does not do the necessary research. Betting the Nationals at home as the underdog is very profitable this season yet very few betters seem to catch on.

Just the opposite is true about the Chicago Cubs. Many people think they are a contender and believe that the Cubs when home at Wrigley make a great bet. The fact is the Cubs are not good this season as usual. They are only winning 43% of their games yet they have been the favorite in 31 out 39 games this season. I know there are a lot of Cubs fans nationwide. They are on national television often either on Fox Network or WGN but you can see how the general public bets with the heart not with the facts.

The point is public perception of a ball club can be way off from reality. As a baseball handicapper you need to look past that and take advantage of it. Statistics and a proven baseball betting system is what makes a handicapper a sports betting champ. We need the system to keep us in line so we don’t bet routinely on teams like the Cubs or bet against the Nationals when playing at home. Follow the system and not public perception and you will profit.

Betting on baseball games is one of the easier or let’s say less frustrating sports to wager on. With 162 games in a season, baseball offers numerous statistics, trends and betting angles that you will not develop as easily in football or basketball.

The first thing you need to understand about placing a wager on baseball is the money line. Unlike football and basketball whose betting lines are set with a point spread, baseball mainly uses a money line. The difference is with a point spread bet it does not matter which team wins the game but only which team covers the spread. Many times a team will win the game but not win by enough points to cover the point spread. This is very frustrating especially when your team fails to play defense towards the end of the game allowing the opposition to easily score as it will end the game quicker and not jeopardize their victory. In Baseball the line is calculated with a money line so you only have to win the game to cash your ticket. The drawback is the payout differs according to the money line price but a win is a win. Now let it be known that if you really like point spreads most sports books do offer a run line bet which is similar to the point spread.

Pitching, baseball handicapping is primarily based on pitching. You will notice this as the line between two teams will change according to the starting pitching. As you may guess, the popular and well known pitchers come at a higher price than the not so popular pitchers. The secret here is that many times when an All Star pitcher takes the mound the price is high even if he is having a poor season. This is because the general betting public will bet his team solely due his well know name as he gets the start. Many of general betting public will not bother to analyze the most current statistics this driving up the price on the All Star pitcher. In many cases the lesser known pitcher will be having a better season and be priced for a nice payout simply because he not as popular to the general betting public.

Keep in mind that a sports books main objective is get equal betting dollars on both teams that are to play each other. A sports book manager may believe that one team will beat the other team by 10 points but they set the line at a 5 point spread so that the general betting public will be split down the middle. Many times the general betting public’s conception is faulty and the line needs to account for that.

Totals in baseball are just like in football or basketball. You simply bet whether the game will go over or under the number posted for the total. You need to realize that in total bets the number is heavily based on the starting pitching. Therefore when you bet a baseball total the starting pitchers are listed by name on your ticket. This mean they must take the start or you bet is returned for a refund. By take the start they must each make the first pitch of the first inning. However, it is rare there is a pitching change that close to game start. Most baseball lines are posted the morning of the game after pitching changes have been made but stuff does happen.

Any time you make a baseball bet you can request to have the pitchers listed on your ticket. This is done if you are betting a side strictly because of the starting pitcher. If for some reason that pitcher is rescheduled for any reason you bet is voided. Many people do not realize this and think the ticket in action.

In order to win consistently in baseball you need to follow a baseball betting strategy.

If you ever wagered on a baseball game you probably have discovered that it is one of the more profitable sports to bet on. Unfortunately, many are not able to see this and rather bet on one of the other sports where they believe winning is more likely.

No doubt, it takes a lot of time to handicap the sport of baseball. With 162 games in a season and games played daily you need to pay close attention. There are numerous team, individual and ballpark statistics that constantly need to be analyzed. Following statistics as part of a handicapping system is a vital process in covering your baseball picks. Here are a few suggestions to help eliminate some unnecessary handicapping and shorten your work load.

It is good idea to avoid betting on any baseball team that is favorite, that is has a price greater than -1.50, don’t even look at this teams. The philosophy on this is that routinely betting on teams of -1.50 or means that you will have to cover 3 out 4 bets to have any chance to turn a winning profit. With high prices like this one loss feels two loses maybe even like three loses. If all you like are high priced favorites then you want to simply parlay the teams in groups of two. A Parlay on the two favorites at least offers a valuable return.

Many handicappers like to play the run line when betting baseball. This is risky so make sure to avoid betting on a home favorite with the run line. The reason here is the home team needs to win by 2 or more runs to win on the run line. We all know the home team if ahead in the middle of the 9th inning does not have to bat to complete the inning the game is simply over now. If the game is tied at the bottom of the 9th inning as soon the home team scores one run the game is over regardless how many outs there are. Unless there is a home run with men on base you have little chance to cover this bet. That lack of batting appearance can work against you.

Baseball is a game of streaks. If a team wins or losses 3 games in a row it is considered to be streak. You want to avoid betting against a team that is currently in a streak. Does not matter, a winning streak or losing streak. Either bet within the streak or avoid the action all together. I like to bet on the streak until it ends that is as long as the betting price is not too high.

At last, either avoid or bet against a pitcher that is making his major league debut. This is a huge psychological battle the first time starter is going through. We know the physical battle part but getting your first start puts the pitcher in a risky position as they are being battle tested for the first time.

If you find yourself only interested in betting on teams with high prices (greater than -1.50) then consider putting them in a 2 team parlay or a 3 team round robin betting the 2 and 3 options. I prefer not to bet the run line laying the 1.5 runs. The main reason I favor betting on baseball is because of the money line where I only have to outright win the game to cash my ticket. I hate backdoor covers!

Baseball is a longtime American tradition that dates back before the Civil War. It is a game that now has become popular worldwide and continues to grow in popularity outside the United States. Baseball is also one the best sports to handicap.

Many people all over the world wager on baseball games. Some will win, some will lose. The ones who win consistently are very likely to follow a baseball betting strategy. Baseball is a complex game filled with statistics and scenarios. To properly win money at this sport you need to follow a baseball betting strategy.

You may either create your own baseball betting strategy or use one provided by someone else. It does not matter where it came from just that is contains all the necessary variables and equations to effectively pick winners. Now let’s take a look at what composes a winning baseball betting strategy.

The first component of a winning baseball betting strategy is the starting pitching. You need to compare the two starting pitchers head to head. Pay attention to whether they are left handed or right handed. Don’t just look at the earned run average but take a deep look at the pitchers recent past starts. You should focus on their last 5 starts in that particular ballpark. You need to examine how many hits and runs this pitcher gave up last time he faced this opposition. Of course certain teams can cause a pitcher many difficulties but so can certain ballparks. Starting pitching is a huge part a winning baseball betting strategy.

The ballpark and weather can play a huge part determining if a game will go over the total. Wind speeds at certain ball parks increase runs greatly. Some ball parks are considered to be pitchers parks and some are known as hitter’s park. Make sure you know the history of the ballpark as well as the pitchers. Ballparks in baseball can very greatly from one place to another, this too is an important part of a baseball betting strategy.

Team hitting needs to be analyzed just like you analyzed the pitching. Teams go through streaks during the season. It may be a winning streak, a team hitting streak or just the opposite. It is never good to be against the streak. Teams or players can ride streak for long periods of time. However when the streak ends many times the player or team will be flat for a lengthy amount of time. Any current team or individual streaks should be noted in following a baseball betting strategy.

The last thing I want to emphasize on is past match ups. History repeats itself a lot in baseball. When creating your baseball betting strategy understand that some teams just own other teams in the playing field. Before you bet on a team or base your bet on a pitcher, make sure you review the recent history. You just may see something that is unique to the particular match up alone but not common to current teams play.

Let’s review, a wining baseball betting strategy is based on thoroughly analyzing the pitchers. Be aware of the ballpark and the probabilities it brings to the games. Look at the teams hitting, know if they are scoring above or below average number of runs lately. Then look closely at the past match ups. That is teams versus teams and pitcher versus that particular team. If one of the teams controls all these factors then you have a safe bet

Baseball is full of statistics and trends. I as fan of the games and baseball handicapper am always looking for those trends that will give me edge when making my predictions. Looks like I have a trend that calls my attention as games this week are played.

Here we are in the beginning of May 2010. We have had a full month of baseball and some great statistics and trends have developed. Today I am looking under the total plays. Most people when looking at totals just glance at the average runs to two score and take an average of that. Well you really miss out on a lot with that lazy technique.

I am going examine two teams. The teams are the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners. What I am looking is to determine if an angle or trends exists in betting the total on any of these teams. At first glance, and too many who don’t dig into the stats deep enough there is no angle or trend.

However we need to dig deeper. Looking at all games played this season that have gone under the total. The Mariners are 9-14-1 or 61% under against the total number. The Twins come in at 9-12-3 or 57% under against the total number.

After digger deeper into the stats we now see things start to improve. The Mariners who we said previously were 9-14-1 or 61% under against the total number, improve as we focus on home games played in Seattle. Now we see the Mariners are 3-8 or 73% under against the total number. That’s improvement of 12% but it gets better. Let’s compare the difference in facing a right handed to a left handed starting pitcher. The Mariners against a right handed starting pitcher are 8-9 or 53%. Against a left handed starter the Mariners now are 1-5-1 or 83%. Looks like we have found a great angle here. The Mariners playing at home against a starting left handed pitcher is very likely to go under the total. This week the Mariners host the Tampa Bay Rays then the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim.

The Twins as we said earlier are 9-12-3 or 57% under against the total number all games played this season. The Twins, when playing at home, are 3-4-2 or once again 57% under against the total. The Twins, when playing on the road are 6-8-1 or 57% under against the total just as before. The Twins versus a staring right handed pitcher are 8-7-3 or 47% under against the total. However put the Twins versus a left handed pitcher you find they are 1-5-1 or 83% under against the total. As you can see the Twins are 47%-57% chance going under the total except when facing a lefty. All off sudden the under play has comes in at 83%. Something to consider this week at the Twins face the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.

Here are two examples of betting the total just does not mean looking at the overall over and under stats. You need to break in down to more specific conditions and wait until those conditions appear again.