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Betting Guide
Baseball is a much different game than other sports. The innings format is a uniquely baseball thing and the starters/relievers paradigm is unlike anything else in sports. These things make baseball a weird thing to bet on as you may know what you are getting with the day’s starters, but not the bullpens that come in after them. Enter 5 Inning Lines.
With most starters lasting at least five innings, the Five Inning Line is a great draw for bettors looking for something stable in baseball betting. The final innings is where the weird stuff happens or so people think.
We’re going to explain what exactly a 5 Inning Line is, where to bet them, how to bet them and our strategy for winning these bets.
Where To Bet MLB 5-Inning Lines:
America: Fans of Five-Inning lines love betting at Bovada who offer it on all of the day’s games.
Canada: Sports Interaction offers five-inning lines on every MLB game, every day.
Everywhere Else: I’ve seen 5-Inning Lines called “First Half MLB wagers” on Bet365 Sportsbook. While they might not be great at math (5/9ths is not half), they do offer great daily 5-Inning lines.
What is an MLB Five-Inning Line?
Five-Inning MLB Lines are simply, what happens in the first five innings. Anything after that third out in the fifth doesn’t count for your bet and your bet will be settled. There a multiple variations to the 5-Inning Line as all of the betting options that are available for a full game are also available here. They are:
5-Inning Moneylines: The moneyline on the game is when the favorite is set with a dollar amount. For example, the Red Sox might be -200 with Chris Sale on the mound against the Orioles. This number will usually be the same as the full game line or with a very slight adjustment like -210.
In this scenario, you’d need to bet $210 to win $100 on the Red Sox.
5-Inning Runlines: MLB Runlines are a static plus or minus 1.5 runs. For a Five-Inning Runline, that number is 0.5 runs.
If betting the favorite, you will need to have a lead of one run or more. If you are betting an underdog, you will need the game to be tied or winning.
5-Inning Over/Unders (Game Totals): The over/under is the combined amount of runs scored by both teams. This number is then adjusted down for a five inning period. For example, if the full game is at 9.5 then the 5-Inning total would be set at something like 5.5.
You then bet whether you think the game will be over (meaning 6 or more runs combined) or under (meaning 5 or less runs combined).
Common 5-Inning Line Questions:
Why bet MLB 5-Inning Lines?
A lot of people prefer betting Five-Inning lines simply because of time. Baseball games are long, over three hours at times and the late innings especially drag on. Getting your bet settled in two hours is appealing to some.
The biggest reason people prefer these bets is the bullpen. You just never know what you are going to get with bullpens in this league. For example, let’s say you have a team with a good starter, strong offense and questionable bullpen. They are facing a team with a bad starter, but a strong bullpen. That first team could look great for the first five innings, but blow it later. In fact, it happens all the time.
There is always more data on starters and therefore it is easier to predict what they might do.
What is ‘listed pitchers, one pitcher or action’?
This is to protect your bet against a change in the starting pitcher.
You can select “listed pitchers” when making your bet to ensure that your bet only goes through if BOTH starters who are scheduled start the game.
If you select “one pitcher”, you’d say that you want your bet to go through as long as one particular starter starts the game. If the other starter changes, your bet still goes through.
Finally, “action” is when you don’t care who starts the game. This is your bet and you want it to go through regardless.
What is the best 5-inning line bet?
The one that wins, of course.
This is a complicated question because not all games are created equal, but I’ll go through each of the bet types and share some of the pros and cons that I have found about them.
Moneylines are nice for betting on a 5-inning line because if it is tied after five innings, you get a push. There are no pushes in baseball moneyline betting for the full game, but you can get it in the 5-inning line. This is beneficial for some people as you can root for two outcomes. Let’s say your team is down a run heading into the fifth, you would then only need one more run to save yourself from a loss and two runs to get a win. Getting one run is a lot easier than two.
Runlines can work good for those who don’t like dealing with a push and want to win or lose their bet. I can relate to this. The -0.5 is pretty fair because all you need is for your team to have the lead. It doesn’t matter how much. It can be a real pain when you bet the full game runline of -1.5 and they only end up winning by one run. You run the risk of getting the loss on a tie game, but you aren’t betting this one because you are looking for a tie.
Over/unders for 5-inning lines are the toughest for me. Even the worst starting pitchers can get through the first time through the order without a lot of trouble. It’s the second and third time cause real problems for starters. Sometimes when you make this bet as an over, it is too little too late as the first couple of innings are quiet.
How To Bet MLB Five-Inning Lines:
Bovada: From the sportsbook, select “Baseball” from the menu, then “MLB”. The day’s games should be listed here with the 5-inning over/unders, moneylines and runlines right there on the page.
Sports Interaction:: From the left side of the website find “Baseball” and click that. Underneath there you should find “MLB” and the day’s games will be listed with a 5-Inning option for each one.
Bet365 Sportsbook: Right from the homepage find “Baseball” under the list of sports on the sidebar. Click “MLB” from there and the day’s games should be posted with a link to the 5-Inning variations of the lines.
MLB 5-Inning Lines Betting Strategy:
The thing to look at here is the day’s starter pitchers, their handedness and the opposing team’s success against that handedness.
You can find data on right handed pitchers vs. left handed batters, vice versa and same handedness match-ups all over the internet. This is the key to find out how good a team might do against a starting pitcher and since it’s a 5-inning bet, you only need worry about the starting pitcher.
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