How To Do Baseball Handicapping

I will start off by saying that you should ALWAYS avoid heavy favorites. I suggest that you should not play the moneyline if it is at or above -140. The reason being that if a favorite loses on a -250 game it will put you upside down 2.5 units and that can take the baseball handicapper a good week or more to break even on.

I would like to suggest that you look at games from the underdog point of view. Once you get used to it, it actually becomes fun and you'll never go back to betting the favorites again.

The first thing that the baseball handicapper should look at are we pitching matchups. By doing this, you will spot value right off the bat where the underdog pitcher has a legit shot of being able to win the game based on a good to strong pitching performance.

By doing this, you will usually have only 3 or 4 games to start picking game apart. The things tolook for will include the pitchers ERA, WHIP, last few outings, how he has down vs. his opponent historically, a full pitcher vs. hitter statistical viewing to see how the opponents hit him over the course of their careers, how this pitcher does in today's environment which means how he performs in day/night games and outside/domes, how he does during this time of the year and we want to look at the last couple of days boxscores to make sure that his team's bullpen are not burnt out from overuse.

In addition, the baseball handicapper wants to see how that pitchers ERA and WHIP are at home or on the road, whichever pertains to the current game we're handicapping. Other things we look for is how the pitcher does vs. right and left handed batters then we try to estimate what the opponent will put on the field against him based on the opponents regulars and/or regular lineup vs. each arm of pitching.

Im sure your probably wondering by now where you can find all these stats without paying an arm and a leg. You'll be happy to know that these stats and even more can be found in the Yahoo Baseball Scoreboard Section simply by clicking on a players name in the boxscore or the daily previews.

The baseball handicapper next need to look at the hitters. You will want to check out how the team is hitting as a whole over the past few games and also see how each hitter does vs. the pitcher over the course of their career. Finally, you also want to check the box score close to gametime to make sure that all the expected bats are going to be in the game. hat's why I recommend not placing a bet on a game on the overnight line or early in the day and your lineup is missing some key players.

Handicapping baseball is a bit different than handicapping other sports. The reason for this is that stats are more are involved than in other sports.

While one could make a case for any one of a hundreds of stats to be factored into capping baseball game, such as:

Grass vs. Turf - With some pitchers this makes a difference in their performance Night vs. Day - Some pitcher's balls are harder to pick up at night under the lights so this can make a difference. WHIP - A whip of 1.00 to 2.00 is very good (The lower the better) ERA - A good era is 3.00 or below. An average ERA may range from the mid 3's to low 4's. Hitter vs. Pitcher Stats - You are looking at how the whole team's individual players have faired vs. the pitcher over the course of their respective careers. Pitcher vs. Team - How does the pitcher do against the whole team. Outdoors vs. Indoors - You can also dig up stats such as playing in outdoor stadiums vs. playing in domes. However, be aware that there are not many domes left in major league baseball, but it's worth checking into. Team Batting Average over last 5 games Hot or Cold Team - One of the most important factors in baseball handicapping is checking out how hot/cold a team is over the last 6 games or so. Home vs. Road - There's a ton of things that can cause a home record to be better than a road record. Remember, that most players get fired up to play well for the 10th man, their fans. Errors - Errors are difficult to handicap because it's virtually impossible to predict them. Your only weapon here is that certain teams have certain players (usually the shortstop or 2nd baseman)who aren't real stable with the glove. Bullpen - If your game comes to a situation where a closer is needed will he be available to pitch? Weather - Such as the win at Wrigley Field or the coldness and rain.

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed this article to baseball handicapping. Baseball offers a unique opportunity to hit less than 50% of your games and still turn a profit.

Remember,teams go on streaks, both good and bad. Utilize this info to the best of your ability but always keep in mind that old streaks end and new streaks begin!

Good luck!

About the Author:

Richard's articles can be found on http://www.24-7wagering.com

He also provides horse racing articles on http://www.bettingthehorsesonline.com

Custom Search