Betting the First Five Innings In Baseball Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

Betting the First Five Innings In Baseball

A number of sports books are now allowing baseball gamblers to place a bet on the first five innings of a game. There are times when a five-inning wager makes more sense than the conventional bet and we will look at some of those in this article.

One of the great things about a five-inning wager is that it typically plays out to form more than a nine-inning game.  As a rule, the starting pitchers, which are usually the basis for any baseball wager, and pitchers have more of an impact on the outcome in a five-inning game than they do in a regulation game since  the bullpen usually does not come into play.  If the bullpen does come in a game during the first five innings, then you are probably in trouble, as that means your starting pitcher did not last five innings.  If this occurs, your bet will normally result in a loss.

The lines on a five-inning game are usually similiar to those for a full nine-inning game.  Seldom will the difference between a five-inning and a full game be more than five cents on the moneyline.  Since that is the case, many sports bettors who like an underdog may receive better value with the five-inning bet.

As a rule, a longer game should favor the better team, while the underdog is likely to fare better in a shorter contest.  This is because as the longer the game goes on, the greater the chances are that the better team will win in the long run.  Thus, remember, that the shorter the game the underdogs may offer better value for bettors.

In addition, you should consider the bullpen.  By tracking which closers have worked for two straight games or pitched more than an inning in the previous game, you will find that the bullpen pitcher will be unlikely to see action in a game.  Because of this, sports bettors that bet on baseball may want to give the five-inning wager a closer look, as they will not have to worry about the bullpen blowing the lead in the late innings.

As a rule, complete games by a pitcher are fairly rare and practically every baseball bettor has watched in horror as their team leads in the seventh inning, but  then removes its starter, only to see the bullpen surrender the lead and lose the game before the closer makes his appearance.  Thus, you should really check out the starting pitcher.  Many nine-inning games have been blown since their are starters who are known to be able to last only six or seven innings.

Many times one of the key differences between a team that scores a lot of runs and a team that is in the middle of the pack in scoring rests in the bottom part of the batting order.  Thus, try to know the batting order of a team.  

In a five-inning game, if the side were retired in order all five trips to the plate, the No. 1 through No. 6 hitters would all make two plate appearances, while the No. 7 through No. 9 hitters would only hit once.  Thus, knowing the batting order can really help you in a five-inning game.

As a general rule, in a nine-inning game, the entire batting order is guaranteed to make three trips to the plate, so there is a very slight edge to the team with the stronger No. 1 through No. 6 hitters.  Thus, there is the  benefit that weaker-hitting team receives of not having the bottom of the batting order come up an additional time, as that should favor the better-hitting team. 

In conclusion, there is no magical system that will yield guaranteed success for betting five-inning games, however there are certain instances where baseball sports bettors may receive better value by wagering on the first five-innings of a game.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!