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MLB Matchups & Betting Trends

MLB GAMES & RECORDS

The MLB Matchups feature is loaded with information for every kind of sports bettor and is essential when it comes to winning your wagers. Similar to the MLB Scoreboard, every matchup begins with a designated home and away team and those clubs are designated a Rotation Number that’s determined in advance by the sportsbooks. The MLB Games are listed in order of that rotation and the MLB Matchups also shows the times of those contests, which is presented in Eastern Standard Time Zone (ET).

Since starting pitchers are key factors when determining the betting odds, those names are listed right next to the teams. The last name of each Pitcher is listed along with their first initial of their first name.

The MLB Record section is the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the MLB Matchups feature. The Record is listed next to each team and it’s broken down into two sections.

(OVERALL RECORD)
(AWAY OR HOME RECORD)

The Streak section is great and focuses on the current form of each team. The most common streak you’ll see in this MLB Matchups feature is W-1 or L-1 which means a team is coming off either a win or a loss. Baseball is a game of runs and it’s not uncommon to see teams produce winning or losing streaks that climb into the double digits.

Using all the information available on VegasInsider, you should be able to find an edge when betting on Major League Baseball. If sports gambling is legal in your state, check out our online sportsbook directory to find the best and most secure places to make MLB bets, as well as exclusive sportsbook offers, including our DraftKings promo code or BetMGM Bonus Code.

Updated on: 04/27/2023

MLB BETTING TRENDS

Sports bettors looking to follow the action can do so in the MLB Matchups Betting Trends section. Before you break down the percentages from the sportsbooks, you should understand the betting lines.

OPENING LINE
CURRENT LINE

The MLB Matchups provide Money-Line odds for each team and one is always listed as the favorite and an underdog. To determine these roles, a minus (-) sign is next to the favorite while a plus (+) is given to the underdog. A number is followed and the higher the number, the more likely for that favorite to win and also more likely for the underdog not to win.

The Opening Line is the initial number that the oddsmakers at sportsbooks send out for bettors to wager on while the Current Line shows the active betting lines for that matchup. The O/U (Over-Under) is the total goals scored for each matchup.

Learn how to bet on baseball.

The MLB Betting Trends is a great snapshot to see what bettors are playing. The percentages always add up to 100% based on both sides (teams) or the over/under (total). The MLB Matchups show the total amount of money wagered on a game. This section is broken down into three columns:

RUN, MONEY, O/U

The Run column stands for the Run Line, which is another popular wager for MLB bettors. Instead of playing the money-line, bettors can wager on a team to win by 1 ½ runs and most sportsbooks will offer an increased return on their wager.

Or, you can take the 1 ½ runs with an underdog and lower your return on investment. It’s very common to see one-run games in MLB and smarter bettors usually avoid Run-Line wagers based on the fact. If you do decide lay the 1 ½ runs, most bettors will tell you to do so with the visitor since you get to nine innings to score runs while the home team won’t go to bat if they’re leading after the top of the ninth.

The Money is the moneyline wagered on the game and the Over/Under is the total goals. The Over is always listed on top of the Under in the last column.

Betting trends normally lean to favorites and over wagers since the betting public isn’t always keen to play underdogs, especially when you have to win outright and almost everybody loves seeing goals scored.

Check out our moneyline calculator.

MLB MATCHUP HISTORY

Bettors looking for archived results can find them on the MLB Matchups and the historical numbers are a great resource. You can scroll through every matchup, starting in spring training and going through the regular season.

Also, the playoffs are covered as well. You can see the historical betting results, line movement and betting trends for all the games that have been played or even matchups that may’ve been postponed by weather. Another great feature on the MLB Matchup History is a link to the Recap, which tells bettors how the outcome was determined.

The ATS (Against the Spread) column also provides you with a quick glance of which team won the game and how many total runs were scored in each matchup, designating an Over or Under result for total bettors.

Kevin Rogers

Kevin Rogers

Kevin has been handicapping professionally since 2007 at VegasInsider before shifting to ScoresAndOdds. He focuses on MLB, NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball, and NHL and mainly uses trends, systems, and situations as his top handicapping angles. More from Kevin Rogers
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