World Series Betting: How to Bet on the World Series

When it comes to finding World Series betting odds, you can find a huge variety at virtually every sportsbook on the market. The real dilemma is choosing which betting options are best for you. Sportsbooks tend to have plenty of options including ones you may not see year-round, so you will want to learn how each betting type works before you start placing your wagers.

There are a number of different ways to bet on the World Series each year, including betting on each individual game or betting on the entire series as a whole.

For our examples, we are going to use American odds, so it’s important to understand how American odds work first.

American odds are commonly used in North America and show the odds as a plus or minus number. The number will show you how likely or unlikely a team is of winning, or that outcome occurring by the number you are presented with. The best way to learn how to use American odds and understand how they work is to look at moneyline betting.

There are other odds formats you can look at like decimal or fractional odds, but let’s look at the betting options available for World Series betting first:

Moneyline betting is the easiest way to bet on each individual game of the World Series. This bet simply requires a bettor to wager on which team will win a particular game, and the payouts are determined by the odds.

Now that we’ve outlined the American odds format, you can very easily see how moneyline betting works:

You can tell which team is favored to win because of the negative number. The negative odds represent favored teams and show you how much you would need to bet to win $100.

The underdog are denoted by their positive odds. The positive odds represent underdog teams or teams less likely to win, and the higher the number the less likely they are to win. 

Moneyline betting is extremely popular during the regular season, but there are other betting options that tend to draw more attention and focus during the World Series.

Even though the moneyline is extremely popular during the regular season, you will also see bets offered on the point spread. This is typically referred to as the runline because baseball doesn’t track points like other sports do, they track runs. However, it does work the same way as traditional point spread betting.

Most run lines for MLB games will be set at 1.5 runs, but if you have a heavily favored team it might be a larger spread. This usually isn’t the case in the World Series as we are watching the top two teams in the league compete, but that’s not to say there haven’t been larger spreads in past World Series matchups.

When betting on a point spread for the World Series, you are betting on the amount of points a team must win or lose by. The underdog team, which will be noted by the minus sign (that we learned above) will have to either win the game outright or lose by less than the spread. The favorite which will be noted by the minus sign, will have to win the game by more runs than the spread.

Can’t decide who will win the game? That’s where totals betting comes in handy. Sometimes it can be too much pressure to decide which team will win, especially if you’re looking like a potentially close game like our point spread example.

For these close games, it can be a huge relief and benefit to bet on the totals or the over/under as it’s commonly called. Totals betting doesn’t force you to bet on a particular team or outcome, you just are betting on the total combined runs for both teams.

If you have a total of 7.5 for a World Series game, you can bet the over, which would mean you believe that both teams collectively will score more than 8 runs (a winning over bet would be a final score of 7-4, let’s say). If you bet the under, you are betting that both teams will collectively score less than 7 runs (a winning under bet would be a score of 3-2, let’s say).

Betting on the totals during the World Series can be a great option throughout the series if you aren’t keen on either team. This way, you don’t have to cheer for either side.

Prop betting or proposition betting is a fun way to bet on the World Series that has nothing to do with a particular outcome. Prop bets are unusual or unique occurrences that have nothing to do with the result of the World Series games. These prop bets offer a unique and exciting twist to betting on baseball, and there are more prop betting markets available each year.

A prop bet doesn’t look at the winning team or the final score at all, but instead focuses on what will actually occur within the game. Prop bets can focus on just one individual player or these bets can be offered on each team in a matchup.

It’s hard to know what types of prop betting options will be available every year, and each sportsbook will likely come up with their own fun and exciting prop bets.

As we mentioned, these betting options are just for fun and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. You can find a huge variety of props at some of the best online betting sites for each game of the World Series.

Here are Gambling.com's best prop bet picks for the MLB postseason so far:

World Series futures betting is one of the most popular ways to bet on Major League Baseball. One of the reasons is that these odds come out as soon as the previous season has ended, and this also offers a chance for a sizable payout.

Even if a bet is placed on the team with the best odds to win the upcoming World Series, there will still be a good return on that investment. Betting on a team that is not expected to perform the following season could lead to a massive payout if that team goes on a surprising run.

Seasoned sports bettors always look at futures wagers at the start of the season to see if there’s any value to be had. You will want to keep an eye on injury reports throughout the season, as well as trades and suspensions. You can always cash out your bet from your sportsbook if your team tanks, but you might not get the full price you paid for your wager.

The World Series is the annual championship for Major League Baseball, and the deciding series for the season champions. Also known in the United States as “The Fall Classic,” Major League Baseball’s World Series is the culmination of a 162-game season and month-long playoff.

Each year, the winners of the National League pennant and the American League pennant compete to win the Commissioner’s Trophy in a best-of-seven playoff series.

The World Series is the oldest championship in the history of professional sports and it’s no secret that baseball has a huge fanbase to hype up the premier baseball event of the season. Sports betting sites certainly don’t hold back when it comes to the best World Series odds and offers countless options on each game of the series.

Even when the World Series field is set each year it is hard to make a good prediction on how the final seven games will play out. Baseball is a sport that can be dictated by a number of factors, and that can lead to some surprising results!

The most important World Series betting tip is to do as much research as you possibly can on each team in the series. Before you ever place a wager on the World Series you will want to arm yourself with enough information to make a sound decision.

Check out teams, how they’ve evolved during the offseason, what players are returning, who got traded or what new rookies are acquired. As we said in the futures section, keep a keen eye on injury reports.

Another tip is to use several of the different betting types above. Learning new betting options can broaden your horizons to bigger payouts. If you constantly are betting moneylines and losing, you might want to mix it up as your picker doesn’t seem to be leading you in the right direction right now. Some of the betting options will lead to higher payouts at times, and you could find some bets that have some value in the odds.

Finally, if your initial World Series prediction is wrong then you could potentially have six or seven games to change up your thinking about each matchup. Don’t be overwhelmed when looking at all of the World Series odds, but instead enjoy and appreciate all of the bets that are available to you.