You’re all set to bet on a tonight’s slate of baseball games, but you don’t know what the run line is in baseball betting?
We’ll explain it quickly and in plain English!

In most sports betting, you bet on a point spread. Particularly in basketball and football, the spread can be anywhere from 1 to 20+ points, since these games are rather high-scoring affairs.
In baseball, the scores aren’t as high, so setting a point spread is different. The point spread in baseball betting is called the RUN LINE.
What is the RUN LINE in Baseball Betting?
A RUN LINE is a set point spread of 1.5 runs.
The team that has the -1.5 beside them in the listings, needs to win by MORE than 1.5 runs (aka 2 or more runs), in order for a bet on them to be a winner.
The other team is +1.5 runs, meaning if they either win the game outright OR lose by LESS than 2 runs, a wager on them would cash in.
Some things to consider when betting the RUN LINE in baseball
- If winning, the home team will get one less inning to score than the visiting team
- Teams often allow inconsequential runs to score in order to concentrate more on securing a victory
- Teams don’t care about margin of victory in baseball
- While a more challenging wager to win when betting the favored team, the payout is much higher than simply picking the game winner (known as MONEYLINE).
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