Best MLB betting sites in Ohio

Ohio is one of the few states that has two professional Major League Baseball teams in the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds.

The two teams haven’t exactly had a ton of success in the Majors, but they still present plenty of opportunities to bet on (or against) them. On this page, we’re going to learn about everything that sportsbooks offer when it comes to betting on Major League Baseball, as well as some helpful tips to keep in mind when you place your bets.

Best Major League Baseball betting sites in Ohio

MLB Ohio betting latest

Cincinnati Reds betting partnerships

With the legalization of sports betting in Ohio, the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a partnership with BetMGM.

BetMGM has a physical location at The Great American Ball Park, which allows fans at the games to place live wagers on the game that’s being played.

Cleveland Guardians betting partnerships

The Cleveland Guardians followed in the footsteps of the Reds and also partnered with a sportsbook. Bet365 serves as the official sports betting partner of the Guardians.

Unlike BetMGM and the Reds, the Guardians do not currently have any plans to include a physical location inside Progressive Field for fans to bet on. Fans can bet through their Bet365 mobile app.

Tips for new MLB bettors

Each MLB team has 162 regular season games that bettors can wager on, so it gives people plenty of chances to win (or lose) throughout the season. Let’s go over some tips that you should keep in mind when placing your bets on Major League Baseball.

Firstly, you should realize that you aren’t a professional bettor. It’s extremely hard to make money long term betting on sports and to do it, it takes a lot of time and effort. Us casual bettors need to make sure we are betting well within our means and keep in mind that it should be viewed as a recreational activity.

Here are a few thing to keep in mind:

• Bet the best possible odds that sportsbooks offer. There are several legal sportsbooks in the state of Ohio and they all will offer slightly different odds on games. Having multiple accounts at multiple sportsbooks is always a good idea as it allows you to bet at the spot that will give you the best possible odds for what you want to bet.
• Parlays are losing bets. Everyone wants to hit it big and risk a small amount to win a lot. That’s why parlays are attractive options for bettors. This is where you pair multiple bets together and you need every single one to hit in order to cash your bet. Keep in mind, parlays are where sportsbooks make the most of their money. Betting single, individual bets is the much smarter option if you want to be a successful bettor.
• Stick to only a few bets. Just because there are 162 games in an MLB season, that doesn’t mean you need to bet on every single one. Stick to bets you feel confident in and if that means taking the day off from betting, then take the day off.

Reading MLB odds

Every single game of the long MLB season is going to have, at the very least, a moneyline, run line, and total option to bet on. It’s a lot of numbers to figure out if you’re a novice bettor, so let’s break down each of those three main types of bets.

Let’s start with moneyline. This bet is the easiest and most straight forward type of bet. All you need is for the team you bet on to win the game. That’s it. Let’s imagine the Guardians and Reds are playing against each other in an interleague game. This might be how the odds would look:

Moneyline odds:

• Guardians +155
• Reds -190

For the given example, the Reds would be set as the betting favorites. The above odds are known as “American Odds”. If the number has a “-” symbol in front of it, that means you would need to wager that much money in order to profit $100 if it wins. For example, a $190 bet on the Reds would win you a profit of $100 if they win the game.

Meanwhile, the “+” symbol means that’s how much money you would profit if you wager $100, the inverse of the “-” symbol. In this situation, a $100 bet on the Guardians to win would potentially win you a profit of $155.

The run line, or sometimes referred to as the “spread” in baseball, makes things a little bit more complicated. It would look something like this:

Run line odds:

• Guardians +1.5 (-185)
• Reds -1.5 (+160)

In this situation, a bet on the Guardians would mean they would have to either win, or lose by one run. A $185 bet on that would yield a $100 profit if the Guardians can either win or lose by only one run.

Meanwhile, a bet on the Reds would need them to win the game by at least two runs. If they do, a $100 bet would yield a $160 profit if the Reds won the game by multiple runs.

Then, there’s the third of the three straightforward types of bets; the total. This bet is simply a bet on the amount of total combined runs that are scored by both teams in the game.

Total:

• Total: 8.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

In this example, if you’re betting on the OVER you’d need at least nine runs to be scored in the game. Runs scored by both teams are counted. That means, for example, it could be a 9-0 win for the Guardians or it could be a 5-4 win for the. As long as more than 8 total runs are scored, the OVER would be the winner.

The opposite is true for the UNDER. You’d need 8 runs or fewer to be scored to cash the bet.

Calculating your payout

No matter the type of bet that you place, triple digit “American Odds” will be associated with it. As explained above, the “-” means that option is more likely to happen and you’d calculate the payout by, in theory, using a $100 unit. The opposite is true for the “+ symbol, where the number given is how much you’d win based on a theoretical $100 bet.

Let’s take a closer look at it using an imaginary total bet.

• Total: 9.5 (Over +120/UNDER -140)

OVER (positive odds): If you were to bet on the OVER in the above example, the odds are +120. That means if you bet $100, you’d win a $100 profit if it hits. This same math can be used for whatever your bet size is. A $10 bet would yield a $12 profit. A $20 bet would yield a $24 profit.

• Calculation for positive odds: Bet amount * (odds/100) = Potential profit

UNDER (negative odds): If you take the UNDER, the odds for that have a “-” next to it. That means you need to theoretically bet that number in order to win a $100 profit. You can use the same math for any bet size. For example, you’d have to bet $14 to profit $10.

• Calculation for negative odds: Bet amount/(odds/100) = Potential profit

Other types of MLB bets

Now that we know the three basic types of bets, as well as how to calculate potential winnings, let’s take a peek at other types of bets you can place on Major League Baseball.

Parlays

Parlays are a fun way to bet, but you should always stick to small bet sizes since these are extremely difficult to hit.

A parlay is a wager on multiple bets at once. In order for the parlay to cash, every single leg of the parlay needs to hit. They can be as small as a two leg parlay, or as big as a 12 leg parlay.

Some sportsbooks even let you make parlays made up of more than 12 legs.

MLB parlay example:

• Reds moneyline (-150) vs. Cardinals
• Guardians/Tigers OVER 8.5 (-110)
• Shane Bieber OVER 6.5 strikeouts (-120)

For this example, you would need all three separate bets to cash for the parlay to be a winner. If any of the three lose, the parlay loses.

You can see why these are difficult to hit and why sportsbooks love to offer them.

Prop bets

You may have noticed that one of the types of bets listed in the parlay above is one that we have discussed yet; prop bets.

These bets are usually on the performance of an individual player. The best example when it comes to baseball is a pitcher’s strikeout total.

• Shane Bieber 6.5 Strikeouts (Over -120/Under +100)

In this example, if you take the OVER, Bieber would have to throw at least seven strikeouts. If you take the UNDER, he’d have to throw six strikeouts or fewer.

For MLB player props, you can also bet on a player to hit a home run, record a hit, and basically any other kind of stat you can think of.

There are also prop bets related to a team. For example, you can bet on there to be a run scored in the first inning specifically. These bets are often referred to as YRFI (yes run first inning) or NRFI (no run first inning).

• YRFI (yes run first inning) -125
• NRFI (no run first inning) +105

It’s extremely simple. If one or more run is scored by either team in the first inning, the YRFI cashes. If no runs are scored by either team in the first inning, the NRFI cashes.

Futures

Finally, there are future bets. These wagers are long-term plays on a team or a player.

Here are few example of different types of futures bets for Major League Baseball:

• World Series Winner
• NL Pennant Winner
• AL Pennant Winner
• AL/NL Cy Young Winner
• AL/NL MVP
• Regular Season Win Totals
• Make or Miss the Playoffs

Futures odds will shift through the year and the season as teams/players performance improves or regresses, or if there’s major news (injury/trade/retirement) that also affects the chance of a team or player achieving the feat you bet on.

Here’s what the odds look like for the AL Central division this season:

The futures market is one area where you should absolutely shop around for odds at different sportsbooks. With the odds as long as they are, there are some significant differences between profit depending on what odds you get it at.

MLB playoff betting

After the 162-game regular season, MLB will shift to the postseason. Six teams make the MLB playoff, with three division winners and three wild cards.

The top two division winners in each league receive a BYE to the Divisional Series. The third division winner and the three wild cards play in the wild card round.

There are four total rounds in the MLB playoffs:

• Wild Card Round (first round) - Four best-of-three series
• Divisional Series (second round) Four best-of-five series
• Championship Series (third round) two best-of-seven series
• World Series (Championship) - best-of-seven series

Throughout the playoffs, bettors can wager on what team will win each series, each league, and the World Series. Odds will shift for each while games are played.

World Series betting

Not only can you bet on what team will win the World Series, but you can bet on what the exact World Series matchup will be and then how many games the winner of the World Series will need to win it.

All the options that are available to bet on during regular season games are also available to bet on during playoff and World Series games.

MLB live betting

Another way to bet on Major League Baseball that we haven’t covered is live betting.

Not only can you bet on games before they start, but sportsbooks now offer live odds that you can bet on during the game. That way, you can get a feel for how the game will unfold before you decide who or what you want to bet on.

Here are some example of types of live bets you can place:

• Live moneyline, run line, and total
• Live player props
• The result of the next “at bat”

There are some professionals that claim live betting offers the best edge for bettors. Live betting can also present you opportunities to “hedge” or “middle” based on your pre-game bet.

Ohio MLB TV and Radio coverage

How to watch MLB in Ohio

There are several different ways to watch Major League Baseball in Ohio, including the Guardians and Reds.

If you live in Ohio, you can watch all games not involving the Guardians or Reds on MLB TV. Unfortunately, due to blackout restrictions, Guardians and Reds games will only be available for viewing on cable networks including:

• Bally Sports Ohio
• Fox
• FS1
• ESPN

How to listen to MLB in Ohio

Even if you’re located in Ohio, you are able to listen to the radio broadcasts of all games, even those featuring the Guardians and/or Reds.

You can also listen to games on local radio stations and nationwide Satellite Radio, such as Sirius XM.

Ohio MLB players

Pitchers

Shane Bieber, Pitcher, Cleveland Guardians

The face of baseball in the state of Ohio. There’s little argument to be made that Shane Bieber isn’t the best professional baseball player competing for an Ohio team.

The righty has been with Cleveland throughout his entire career and won the American League Cy Young award with them in the shortened 2020 season.

Hunter Greene, Pitcher, Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a young and upcoming team and Hunter Greene is going to play a big role in their future.

He’s already making noise in his second year in the Majors and has taken over the role as the ace in the Reds rotation.

He was selected 2nd overall by the Reds in the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Infielders

José Ramírez, 3rd baseman, Cleveland Guardians

José Ramírez is a Cleveland legend, playing with the team since 2013.

He has yet to win an MVP award, but finished third in the AL MVP voting twice and finished second in AL MVP voting in 2020, while also winning a Silver Slugger award.

Hailing from the Dominican Republic, he has been a cornerstone of the franchise for the past 10 years.

Jonathan India, 2nd baseman, Cincinnati Reds

While Hunter Greene is the face of the future for the Reds’ pitching staff, Jonathan India represents the future for the Reds offense.

India was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 2021 and has continued to live up to expectations since then. Fans hope he’ll remain a big part of the Reds for years to come.

Outfielders

Steven Kwan, Leftfield, Cleveland Guardians

Steven Kwan was a pleasant surprise for the Guardians last year. The 2018 5th round draft pick finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting while also winning a Gold Glove.

He doesn’t have a ton of power, hitting only six home runs in his rookie season, but racked up a .298 batting average while being a lockdown outfield on defense.

He may not be the flashiest player, but the Guardians would be smart to keep him around for the future.

Wil Myers, Outfield, Cincinnati Reds

Wil Meyers came over to Cincinnati after spending years on the San Diego Padres.

He was named rookie of the year back in 2013, and has since been a solid player for whatever team he’s on. He provides some veteran presence for the Reds, who should help guide them into the next phase of their rebuilding.

Greatest Ohio MLB players of all time

There are plenty of fantastic players throughout the history of both of Ohio’s Major League Baseball teams. Arguably the best player in Ohio MLB history is Pete Rose, who was removed from the Hall of Fame after being found out that he had gambled on games as a member of the Reds.

Here’s a list of the best all-time players from each franchise:

Greatest Players in Cleveland Guardians History

• Jim Thome, 1B/3B (1991-2002, 2011)
• Lou Boudreau, Shortstop (1938-1950)
• Bob Feller, Pitcher (1936-1941, 1945-1956)
• Tris Speaker, Center Fielder (1916-1926)
• Nap Lajoie, 2nd Baseman (1902-1914)

Greatest Players in Cincinnati Reds History

• Barry Larkin, Shortstop (1986-2004)
• Frank Robinson, First Baseman and Outfielder (1956-1965)
• Joe Morgan, Second Baseman (1972-1979)
• Johnny Bench, Catcher (1967-1983)
• Pete Rose, Outfielder and Infielder (1963-1978, 1984-1986)

21+ and present in OH. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

Ohio betting by sport

Ohio betting by team

Ohio sportsbooks

Ohio odds boosts & promos