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When it comes to betting on baseball, most bettors tend to simply focus on the MLB lines that are posted every day. That’s not a bad strategy to take, but there are plenty of bets that can be made before the season even begins.
Futures betting is a great way to make money when betting on baseball, especially if you are finding some great value bets. Most future bets aren’t settled until after a season concludes, and some people simply don’t have the patience to wait that long.
When it comes to making a futures bet on MLB, there are three main categories or types to focus on. Here is a look at the top future best to make on Major League Baseball in an effort to expand your MLB betting options.
Before we get into the future betting options, it’s important to remember that these odds are going to be available all season long and will also be changing.
Team Achievements
When most people think of MLB futures betting, looking at team achievements is usually the biggest focus. Obviously, the biggest futures betting market is a wager on which team will go on to win the upcoming World Series.
Even though a bet on the World Series winner will draw the most wagers, it’s not the only option. There are plenty of other futures markets that wrap up before the World Series takes place, and those might actually offer some better options.
Futures betting odds are actually offered for the winner of each of the six divisions, and then for the pennant winner of each league. You can actually parlay the division winner bets into one large wager as well.
One bonus about betting on a division winner is that it will be paid out as soon as that race wraps up. That could then give you some money to use to wager on the postseason, rather than waiting for the World Series to be finished.
The final major futures betting option when it comes to baseball is betting on the regular season win totals for each team. Over/under odds are going to be offered for all 30 teams in the league, and you can then decide if they will win more or less than that amount.
Player Awards
Team achievements are usually the biggest focus, but you can also place a futures bet on the player awards that are handed out as well. Baseball might be a team sport, but it’s individual players that usually shine the brightest on the diamond.
When it comes to player awards in MLB, betting on the Most Valuable Player is always a popular option. For pitchers, the Cy Young Award is given out to the best pitcher every year.
One thing that is a bit different when it comes to player awards is the fact that these winners are decided through a voting process. This can make things a bit complicated as it’s hard to determine how the voters will go every year.
There are other player awards handed out beside the two biggest ones, and odds are available for those as well. By the end of the season, you are usually going to find only a couple of players have odds listed for each award.
Future Prop Bets
Betting on team or player achievements is clearly the most popular form of future prop bets, but there are other ways to get involved as well. Prop betting has started to take over the entire betting industry, and you can actually make future prop bets as well.
Most of the future prop bets that you will find are going to be similar to team or player awards. This will just take a deeper dive into those categories and offer some interesting betting options.
For example, you might see a future prop bet that asks, “Which division will the eventual World Series champion come from?” You might also see something such as, “Will a pitcher or position player win the AL MVP Award this season?”
One of the best reasons for looking at future prop bets is that you can actually find even better odds than simply betting on a regular futures market.