A moneyline is simply the odds, as in “Odds to win” for an event with a winner and a loser. When you bet on the moneyline, you are simply betting on who will win the game. For example, let’s say the odds for Team A are +150 and Team B are -170, a bet on Team B would need to be $170 wagered for every $100 won. If you place a $100 bet on Team A and they were to win, you would win $150.
A run line in baseball is the same as a point spread or handicap in any other sport. The point spread is a mechanism for shifting the measure of the winner and the loser by a set number of points, and the accompanying odds determine the ratio of risk to reward just like with a moneyline bet.
For example, bets are based on a 1.5 point spread. So if Team A is +1.5 runs at odds of -130 and Team B is at -1.5 runs at +110. A $100 bet on Team B would win $110 if they were to win by 2 or more runs. It would cost $130 to win $100 on a bet that Team A would not lose by more than one run.
Reminder: Odds are always contained within a spread, as a spread is just a mechanism for determining the winner. The odds (or moneyline) is the number that determines the ratio of risk/reward, and the spread is the number that determines which side wins the bet.
Baseball totals are bets on the total number of runs scored in a game. You bet on whether the total runs will be over or under a number set by oddsmakers. If the over/under for a game between Team A and Team B is 7.5, you’ll need at least 8 runs scored to win the over, or less than 7 runs scored to win the under. If you bet on the over and the final score is 5-3, for a total of 8 runs, you’d win the bet.
A parlay bet is placing a bet on multiple outcomes to occur and requires all outcomes to be selected correctly to win. For example, if you parlay $100 on Team A and Team B, you’ll need both teams to take the W to win the parlay bet. Parlays are a riskier baseball betting type given that you need to be correct on each outcome in the entire bet but they offer greater rewards.
