NFL vs. MLB betting
When it comes to American sports, the NFL and Major League Baseball is the most exciting sports events in the region. Baseball is an old and dependable sport in the country, although the action is still decent. However, there’s a huge difference between NFL and MLB, especially if you’re looking to wager on sports events.
Here’s how the NFL compares to the MLB from a sports punter’s point of view.
- Run lines
The run line is one of the things that most punters like about MLB games. Run lines are only available in major league baseball, and you can’t find something similar in the NFL or NBA. However, the national hockey league (NHL) features something similar, the puck line.
If you’re used to wagering on the NFL through the football betting apps at https://www.gamblingsites.org/apps/betting/football/, the run lines might be a little confusing at first. The run line is a cross between a money line bet and a point spread, so it can’t take long to understand. We recommend betting on the run lines on paper for some time before getting used to them.
Once you understand how to find value, betting on the run lines can be very profitable. However, you’ll need to bet using an imaginary bankroll first, and once you know your handicapping is right, you’re ready to start using real money.
- The Statistical data available
Most professional baseball gamblers avoid betting on matches for the first two weeks. Instead, they use the time collecting and analyzing data when the season begins to help them see emerging trends and avoid making mistakes in their wagers.
Some teams and players have cold and hot streaks, while others are consistent. However, you won’t know what will happen during the season’s early stages. Fortunately, the MLB season has plenty of games, and the money you’ll save during the first few weeks can be used better by figuring out the most profitable handicapping methods.
As things get deeper every season, MLB punters have more data to work with as the campaign is usually long. More statistical data can be bad or good, so punters must learn how to assess large amounts of data. Unlike in the NFL, a major part of your work as an MLB handicapper will be learning the data that’s valuable and what you must ignore.
- Home-field advantage
Most casual punters understand the home-field advantage in the MLB, NFL and other major sports leagues. For many punters, that simply means that if the playing teams were evenly matched, then we’d expect to see the spread favoring the hosts. While that’s basically true, it’s too simplistic and might lead some punters to make assumptions that work against us.
In the MLB, the playoffs are highly challenging compared to the NFL because a few teams are involved (only ten teams in total). Looking at previous postseason series and wild-card games, about 50% of the teams with a home-field advantage normally wins. However, MLB teams without the home-field advantage also find it easy to succeed than those without.
The postseason features 12 teams in the NFL, which is more than in the MLB. There are ten playoff matches yearly without counting the Super Bowl, normally played on neutral ground. However, the home-field advantage in the NFL carries more weight than in the MLB, as about 60% of the home teams normally win.
- Games played every day
Each team in the MLB plays a total of 162 regular season matches, meaning there are thousands of matches to wager on every year. That gives punters plenty of games to bet on every day in the regular season. That’s also great news as it produces lots of helpful statistics, but there’s also a significant advantage in its schedule.
Sports bookmakers must set the betting lines for each game on the schedule. The availability of many games means MLB betting platforms can easily make mistakes, which translates as profits on the punters’ end. That’s because sportsbooks might be great at setting lines, but they aren’t perfect.
Comparing the MLB campaign to the NFL season, you’ll see why baseball presents a better opportunity for punters. The NFL season only features 17 matches, with a limited number of weekly games. However, the MLB season is much longer and has many more matches every week.
Conclusion
While we’re not saying that making profits when betting in the MLB is easy, betting on baseball is highly friendly to professional punters looking to make money while having fun consistently. In most cases, the NFL odds are tighter than in the MLB, but various reasons make the MLB the sport of choice for many. However, you might need to master the run line to make profits quickly in the MLB.