Betting baseball in Ontario is going to be popular in 2022, as the Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be among the top contenders to win the World Series. But with the expansion of legal sports betting in the Canadian province and a suite of new Ontario sportsbooks apps to choose from, some Ontario fans may be asking, “How do you read MLB odds?” We’ve got you covered with a primer on futures odds, moneylines, run lines (spreads), totals, and more, including top Ontario sportsbook bonus offers.
Top Sportsbooks In Ontario: Welcome Offers Now Available
- BetMGM Sportsbook Ontario >> See new bettor offer here
- Caesars Sportsbook Ontario >> See new bettor offer here
Baseball betting in Ontario expanded on April 4 when the province welcomed new sportsbooks in BetMGM Ontario, Caesars Sportsbook Ontario, BetRivers Ontario, PointsBet Ontario, and others as legal and licensed operators. Here are the current promo codes to use when registering for a new account in order to maximize your sign-up bonus.
How Do You Read MLB Odds?
Futures Odds
BetMGM is offering the Blue Jays at +1100 to win the World Series. What does that mean exactly? Another way to express that number is 11-to-1 odds. This means you would win $11 for every $1 you risk if Toronto wins it all. A $100 bet on Toronto will win you $1,100 (and return your initial $100 stake). These are known as futures odds because they revolve around an outcome that takes place in the future.
The top betting favorite at BetMGM (and most other sportsbooks) are the Los Angeles Dodgers at +500. The same $100 bet on L.A. would return $500, or a $10 bet would win $50, etc.
Betting On Individual MLB Games In Ontario
How do you read MLB odds on a game? Let’s use the actual odds from Toronto’s critical contest against the N.Y. Yankees on Sept. 29, 2021, with both teams on the cusp of making the MLB playoffs.
Team Run Line (Spread) Moneyline Total
Blue Jays +1.5 (-170) -103 O 8.5 (+100)
Yankees -1.5 (+135) -117 U 8.5 (-125)
The Blue Jays, who were a slight underdog versus the Yankees, ended up winning the game by a score of 6-5. If you backed them at +1.5 on the run line (similar to a spread in other sports), a $170 bet won you $100 (there would be $270 put into your sportsbook account — the $100 you won plus your initial $170 bet). Baseball run lines are almost always 1.5 runs, so in this case, the Yankees would have had to win by at least two runs for a bet on New York to cash.
The moneyline does not add or subtract runs from a team’s score; you just need your team to win the game outright. A bet of $103 returned a $100 profit on the Blue Jays (again, $203 would be put into your account after bet won).
The final column in the betting line above involves the total number of runs scored by both teams. If you bet $100 on the OVER, you won $100 with a total of 11 runs in the game. For the UNDER to have won, eight runs or fewer would have had to been scored.
Other Bets You Can Make On MLB & How They Work
One of the most popular prop bets in baseball centers on the number of strikeouts a starting pitcher will have. A prop, or proposition bet, is a wager that is not directly tied to the outcome of a game. This year, Jose Berrios will be one of the top pitchers for Toronto. Here’s an example of how his odds will look in a given game.
Player Total Strikeouts
Jose Berrios O 6.5 (-110)
U 6.5 (-105)
Berrios needs to throw a minimum of seven strikeouts for you to hit the OVER on this bet. Anything less, and the UNDER will cash. Note the different odds attached to this strikeout total. You’ll need to bet $110 to win $100 on the OVER, but just $105 to win $100 on the UNDER. Standard odds are -110, which translates to betting $11 to win $10. The additional dollar on losing bets goes to the house as the vigorish or vig. That’s the amount a sportsbook charges to handle your bet.
What Are MLB Parlay Bets?
The final bet to discuss today is a parlay, which involves betting on at least two outcomes in a single bet. Let’s use our original example above for the Jays-Yankees game last fall. You made a $100 bet on Toronto to win outright at -103 odds AND for the game to go OVER 8.5 runs at -125. Excellent choice. Using Gaming Today’s parlay calculator, the $100 parlay bet cashed a winning ticket of $254.76.
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