College baseball may not carry the same clout as NCAA basketball or football, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bet on it.
College baseball receives a decent amount of betting action at regulated online sportsbooks. It then picks up when the postseason arrives and peaks during the College World Series.
NCAA baseball odds will be available at most online North Carolina sportsbooks. These are the best college baseball betting sites you can expect when online sports betting becomes available in the state:
Best North Carolina sportsbooks for college baseball odds
DraftKings Sportsbook: One of the leading names in sports betting, DraftKings began as a daily fantasy sports site and transitioned into a sportsbook once states began to allow betting.
DraftKings has a popular platform, the potential for a large welcome bonus for new players, numerous promotions for existing customers and one of the largest arrays of available prop bets.
FanDuel Sportsbook: The other main daily fantasy sports platform, FanDuel has also emerged as the top online sportsbook in multiple states so far.
FanDuel’s sportsbook app is one of the best around, and it offers solid customer service, as well. You can expect lines for nearly every Division I college baseball game plus futures and prop betting (if regulations allow).
BetMGM Sportsbook: MGM’s online sports betting arm offers a strong welcome bonus and a deep list of sports on which to bet, including NCAA baseball. College baseball odds will likely be competitive for all types of bets, including futures and props. BetMGM also features an easy-to-navigate betting app and 24/7 customer service.
Caesars Sportsbook: With a well-known name and wealth of experience, Caesars Sportsbook is another of the main choices among avid bettors. It typically offers a variety of deposit and withdrawal options and a competitive welcome bonus.
How to bet on college baseball
When you’re ready to start betting on college baseball at North Carolina online sportsbooks, you can either sign up for an account online or download the betting app and sign up from your phone.
Either way, you can sign up, claim any sportsbook promotional sign-up bonuses and get to betting. The sportsbook will require a number of personal details, and you will also need to verify that you are in a state where online betting is legal.
Live betting on college baseball
In-game betting, also called live betting, allows you to wager on a game while it takes place. These bets typically focus on statistical categories, scoring or team or in-game player accomplishments. They primarily appear as prop and over/under-type bets.
Every sportsbook offers its level of live betting options, so if you find you’re really drawn to that aspect of the hobby, do some shopping around to find the sportsbook with the live betting experience that best fits what you’re interested in.
College baseball spreads, moneylines and over/unders
There are three major bets for college baseball — run lines, moneylines and totals. These bets, or their variants, are the primary ones you will see for most team sports.
- NCAA baseball run line bets: The run line is baseball’s variant of the point spread. The sportsbook provides a run differential that the favorite will need to exceed for bets on that side to win. The underdog, meanwhile, will need to avoid losing by more than the number. Where the run line differs from the point spread is that the difference is a standard 1.5 runs. For example, if NC State is a -1.5 favorite, it would have to win the game by at least two runs. The underdog simply has to lose by one run or win outright.
- NCAA baseball moneyline bets: The moneyline is the same in every sport you’ll come across — you’re simply picking which team you believe is going to win. If you get it right, your payout depends on how much you bet and what the odds were for that team when you finalized your wager.
- NCAA baseball total bets: Also commonly referred to as over/unders, totals don’t require that you pick the winning team. Instead, the sportsbook will give you a line for the total combined runs in a game, and you can wager on whether the actual combined total will be over or under that line.
College baseball props and futures
Props and futures are other bets you’ll come across at legal and regulated North Carolina sportsbooks. College baseball futures generally involve betting on the outcome of a full season or postseason of play, or a distant tournament. Prop bets are side wagers you make that typically do not depend on who wins the game but instead focus on things like scoring, statistics and milestones.
Futures are among the more popular options for NCAA college baseball betting. The most common thing you’ll find in any sportsbook is which team will end up winning the College World Series. Here are some other potential options:
- Will a specific team reach the CWS tournament?
- Which player will win the tournament MVP?
- Which team will win a specific conference?
Prop bets are more common in the NCAA playoffs and College World Series than they are in regular-season games, but you’ll still find some for the bigger games. Here are some potential options:
- Will there be a grand slam by either team in this game?
- Which team will score the first run of the game?
- Which team will be leading by a certain inning?
- Will a certain player hit a home run in the game?
Prop bets and futures aren’t as popular as the main bets, but you may be able to find value in them if you’re doing your homework.
What are F5 bets in baseball?
Some sportsbooks will let you bet on the score at the end of the first five innings of a baseball game. This wager, known as an F5 bet, can be helpful for those who are keen on the starting pitcher for one team or another but who don’t want to worry about what will happen once the bullpens become involved.
Betting on the College World Series
The College World Series is NCAA baseball’s most popular event, for viewing and for betting. The tournament, split into two double-elimination brackets, features eight teams and takes place annually at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. The series began in 1947.
The winners of each side of the brackets compete against each other in a best-of-three championship series.
The CWS can get increased betting attention because it takes place during the summer, around a time that is often void of any other significant sporting events. The most common wager on the College World Series is futures bets. The lines for these tend to come out at sportsbooks shortly after the previous CWS closes. At that point, the odds are usually quite long on most teams, but that’s because there isn’t very much information and data to back up the odds or the bets.
Why are bets sometimes missing in college baseball?
The thing about college athletics is teams can have a wide variety of talent. The top programs in the country generally draw the best players, and the smaller, less successful programs typically get second-tier players.
Because there can be such a lopsided amount of talent on one team in a game, the odds could be massively shifted in favor of one group. When it gets to that point, and the betting is all on one side of the wager, the sportsbooks will sometimes pull the line altogether.
College baseball betting apps in North Carolina
Here are some common questions about betting apps:
Can I use the app to make bets outside of North Carolina?
The simple answer is no, but the more complicated answer is you can generally make bets using your app from any state that allows online sports betting and has granted a license to the sportsbook you’re trying to use.
If you try to use the app in a state that doesn’t allow online sports betting, you’ll still be able to access your account and add and withdraw funds, but you won’t be able to place an actual wager until you’re back within a state where it is legal.
Any attempt to avoid this by using VPNs and other services is illegal.
How come the odds changed from the last time I looked at a game?
Odds don’t stay stagnant and can shift at any point after a sportsbook releases them. Lines may move for a variety of reasons, but here are the two main ones:
- Information
- Public betting
Oddsmakers use a variety of data to create their lines, and some of that information can have a large impact on the outlook of a game: player injuries or suspensions, coaching changes, weather, a switch in venues and more.
If information changes or new information becomes available, oddsmakers will use that in consideration when shifting their college baseball betting lines.
Another reason sportsbooks will shift the odds is if the public is betting on one side far heavier than the other. Sportsbooks try to keep betting on both sides as even as possible. If one side is getting most of the betting, the book will often improve the odds for the other side to try to get more action there.
To avoid any last-minute shifts, set your bet slip as soon as you find odds favorable for the bet you want to make. Use multiple sportsbooks to shop around to find the best odds for any event.
What does public betting mean?
A term you may come across is “public betting,” or which side the public is on. The definition of public betting is simple: Which side of a bet are most people wagering on.
How can you decipher which side that is? Well, you can use a couple of methods. First, remember that NCAA baseball betting lines don’t remain static after they come out. They will shift depending on data and news about a game or players, but they will also move because of public betting.
If the public is betting heavily on one side of a wager, sportsbooks might adjust the odds to help make the other side of the bet more attractive. You can sometimes see where the public has influenced a game simply by comparing current odds with the opening lines.
You can also use one of the websites that track sportsbooks and report their betting percentages. Additionally, some sportsbooks openly publish or post via social media their betting percentages and how much betting is happening on one side or the other.
Where can I use my betting app in the state of North Carolina?
As long as you’re using an app that is part of a sportsbook that has been licensed and is legal to operate in North Carolina, you can use it anywhere within state lines where you have a Wi-Fi or cellular data signal to make bets, access your account and more.
The most significant benefit of using a sports betting app is that you aren’t tied to a specific location. You don’t have to go to a casino or some other type of brick-and-mortar location to make your college baseball bets.
