Although the WBC never reached the same status as its football counterpart, the tournament remains highly popular amongst viewers and sports bettors. So while the WBC might not be held to the same prestige as the football or basketball World Cup, the World Baseball Classic is still a significant event in sports betting.
Considering its international appeal, it should come as no surprise that many sports wagering sites offer betting odds and gambling markets, making it very easy to get into the world of baseball wagering. But while it might be easy to find a site that will accept your bet, there is more that goes into baseball betting, and there are things you need to know to achieve success wagering on one of America’s favorite sports.
In this betting guide, we will cover everything you need to know about the best WBC betting sites.
Best World Baseball Classic Sportsbooks
Due to WBC’s international popularity, virtually all sportsbooks offer World Baseball Classic odds. From known baseball bookies to other, more traditional bookmakers such as Bovada, Bet365, and MyBookie – all will have sufficient coverage of WBC betting markets.
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But while there are many World Baseball Classic Betting sites, you should not pick the first one you see; instead, take your time and look at what it offers and whether the site has all the features you’ll need. That includes competitive baseball odds, market depth, promos, and bonuses.
Finding the right sportsbook for WBC betting can take time and be tedious, so to make the process easier for you, we have assembled a list of our top 5 picks for the best World Baseball Classic sportsbooks for you to check out.
Offers & Promotions
Offers and promotions are an excellent way to improve your betting experience and gain an edge while wagering on any sport, so it makes sense to take full advantage of any betting bonuses, promos and offers you will find on sportsbooks. The bonuses and promotions will come in the form of odds boosts, increased parlay payouts, and free bets, which are all very common for significant sporting events such as the World Baseball Classic. They usually don’t have any special requirements you need to fulfil besides placing a bet.
If you’re looking for a sportsbook with generous betting bonuses, picking one of the big brand names such as Unibet, William Hill, 1xBet, or BetMGM is your best wager, but there are many more options out there. Check our picks for the top betting sites with the best World Baseball Classic wagering offers!
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World Baseball Classic Odds
World Baseball Classic betting odds are readily available on all major sportsbooks, but as we know, the odds and the bookies are not equal. Some bookmakers will offer much better odds than others, mainly because each bookie prices the games based on the information and stats they have on the players and teams.
That is why you should have access to more than one sportsbook, so you can check which baseball bookies can offer you the best price on the team you want to bet on. But before you can price shop for the best value, you need to know how to read the odds, which wager types are available, and how to approach betting on WBC.
World Baseball Classic Specials
Whether you’re an experienced bettor or just a casual baseball fan looking to learn how to wager on baseball, the WBC presents many unique betting options for you to explore. Although not as commonly used as straight bets, special stakes are particularly interesting since they allow you to approach betting on baseball with a different method that isn’t necessarily related to which team will win a given match.
Many WBC special stakes are available as alternative baseball betting methods, from betting with special team wagers to player-specific bets and even on the final game.
Teams
When making your World Baseball Classic predictions, you will primarily be betting on teams, but there are more ways to do so than just wagering on which team will win any given match. These bets commonly include team futures, used to predict how a particular team will do in a tournament.
One of the team bets you can make even before the tournament starts is which squad will qualify for the World Baseball Classic. You can also bet on whether a team will qualify for the playoffs, in which place a team will finish their group, how many wins will a specific team earn during the group stage, and even their win-loss record.
So if you want to bet on Japan to qualify from their group into the playoffs, you can do that like you can bet on the USA to end their group with a perfect 3-0 record. There are many ways people can approach wagering on WBC teams, and many World Baseball Classic betting lines to explore.
Final
The WBC receives plenty of betting action throughout the tournament, yet the most popular match to bet on is the grand final. Featuring 2 of the best baseball teams of the contest who square off for the title and the international glory that comes with it, the WBC finals is the most-watched and the most famous match to bet on.
Even bookies that aren’t known for offering baseball will have World Baseball Classic finals odds ready, and there is a good chance the baseball bookies will add a nice selection of prop bets to the offer. So while the WBC final is only one match, the fixture traditionally has more wagering options than any other tournament game, making it highly exciting to watch and appealing for baseball bettors.
MVP (Best Player)
Betting on WBC’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) works the same way as wagering on the MVP of the MLB. Since this is a player-specific bet, the MVP wager is used to predict which individual player will perform the best across the entire tournament, so either he will manage the best scores or be overall the most useful player in his team.
Betting on the MVP is viewed as one of the toughest wagers you can make on the WBC, but there are a couple of tips you can follow to achieve more success. Although knowing which baseball player will show the best form at the tournament is difficult, it’s wise to back a player who is a part of the team expected to do well.
So if you expect Puerto Rico to make a deep run, it’s wise to back a player such as Jorge Soler since there’s a good chance he will score more points than Jose Urquidi, assuming Puerto Rico does better than Mexico. And even though you’re betting on a strong favourite to win the best player award, the odds to win the World Baseball Classic MVP will still be reasonably high – and often reach double digits.
Popular Bets
Special bets allow you to explore alternative wagering markets and approach betting differently on the World Baseball Classic. But WBC betting primarily revolves around all sports’ most common wager types, including moneyline, props, futures, and more.
So by combining the 2 markets – popular bets and special markets – you will have plenty of stakes at your disposal to find winning picks and make a profit from betting on baseball’s premier sporting event. But before you can do that, you need to know a thing or 2 about how the bets work.
Moneyline
Moneyline baseball betting is the simplest form of wagering and revolves around the odds for a team to win a given match. It’s the most straightforward bet you can make on the tournament, predicting which team will win the game you’re betting on.
World Baseball Classic game odds work the same ways as NCAA baseball odds, or odds on any other baseball event, and show the teams priced according to their perceived strength. The stronger team will be priced at lower odds, and the underdogs at higher odds.
Props
Much like we see in all other sports, baseball also has a nice selection of proposition (or prop) bets for you to explore. And while props might be tougher to predict, they’re all fairly simple in concept.
With props, you’re betting on very specific events; most are wagers on a particular player and team milestones that might or might not directly influence the game’s outcome.
Some of the most popular prop bets include:
- How many bases will a player steal?
- How many home runs will a player have?
- How many RBIs will a player have?
- How many strikeouts will a pitcher have?
Besides the mentioned examples, you can also bet on the number of strikeouts, bases, and even combined hits, errors, and runs. There is no limit to how many prop bets a bookie can offer, and it adds another layer of excitement and variety to wagering on WBC.
Futures
Months before the World Baseball Classic, you won’t know which teams will make it into the playoffs or the finals, but you can still bet on them. Futures (or outright) betting markets, which are essentially odds of each team winning the World Baseball Classic, will be available well ahead of time, allowing you to bet on the team’s success at the WBC even before the tournament begins.
So if you think that the USA is the strongest baseball team, you can wager on them to win the WBC. But futures don’t include only bets on the winner.
Futures are any stakes you can make on the outcome that will happen in the future, which includes which team will make the finals, which team will make the playoffs, which team will qualify for the World Baseball Classic and more. And beyond that, even player-specific bets, such as who will win the WBC MVP and which player will have the most home runs fall into the same category.
Future wagers on WBC can be very diverse, but they all have one thing in common – generous betting odds, making them one of the most popular stakes you can make on the World Baseball Classic.
How to Bet on World Baseball Classic
Now that you are familiar with the most common and popular WBC bet types, you’re set to make your first wager. But before you do that, it’s essential to know how to approach betting on the World Baseball Classic and which steps you need to ensure you’re on the right path to make a profit.
So if you’re an experienced bettor, you might already know what’s required to succeed in betting on baseball and any sport. But if you’re new to the exciting world of sports wagering, here are 7 steps you need to follow to improve your chances to make a profit betting on WBC.
- Find a trustworthy, legal, and regulated sportsbook.
- Preferably register with more than one betting site to wager with the best odds.
- Take full advantage of any promos, betting bonuses, and other offers.
- Find a website that provides picks and wagering previews.
- Do your research – look through stats, odds, and all relevant information on the teams and players.
- Find a betting strategy that works for you and stick to it.
- Learn to manage your bankroll and never overbet.
World Baseball Classic Live Betting & Live Streaming
Live baseball betting, also known as in-play wagering, is betting on baseball games while they happen. It presents an alternative approach to wagering on the WBC, and in many ways, it’s also the most exciting method of betting on baseball.
To bet on live games, you need to register on a sportsbook that has live markets available, but given the popularity of WBC in-play betting, finding a bookie with that feature won’t be difficult. Still, you should keep an eye out on the in-play market availability and the odds since no 2 bookies will have the same World Baseball Classic live betting line on the same match.
The main differences between pre-match and in-play betting on baseball are the different wager types you will get presented with and the volatility of the betting odds. So not only does in-play betting offer even more stake types for you to wager with, but you should also pay close attention to how the odds move.
Depending on what is happening in the games, the World Baseball Classic betting lines will move, turning in-play gambling into one of the best ways to approach wagering on baseball if you’re looking for value. Suppose you know the sport and can recognise the importance of game actions. In that case, in-play betting is definitely for you – as you can easily gain an edge over bookmakers, who will struggle to adjust the odds to reflect the game state properly.
But note that while knowledge of the game is essential for success with in-play betting, you will also need a stable internet connection and a reliable stream of the games. So if you want to explore the world of live betting, it’s wise to pick a bookie that can provide you with the latter.
World Baseball Classic Betting Tips & Predictions
If you’re betting in-play, you will have to rely on your knowledge of the game, players, and the teams to make decisions in a split second. But if you’re betting on the pre-match markets, you will have plenty more time and tools to make the right pick.
Looking through all the betting odds, available stats, information, and news on the players/teams is critical for making an intelligent bet, but it can be tedious. Not all punters are prepared to deal with it. And that is where betting previews, picks, and World Baseball Classic predictions from expert baseball bettors come in handy.
Access to a reputable betting site that can provide solid wagering previews will save plenty of time you would otherwise spend searching for bets. Although you should always make your own decision, reading through WBC betting previews is an excellent way to access vital information on the tournament in a concentrated form.
World Baseball Classic Overview
Before placing your first bet on the World Baseball Classic, you need to learn the basics. But it never hurts to know a few interesting details and historical facts about the tournament. So here are a few things you might not know about the World Baseball Classic.
- To date, the World Baseball Classic featured 3 different champions in Japan (2006, 2009), Dominican Republic (2013), and the United States (2017).
- Some of the best baseball players to participate in the World Baseball Classic include Daisuke Matsuzaka, Robinson Canó, Ichiro Suzuki, Tomoya Satozaki, Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr.D, Pedro MartÃnez, Iván RodrÃguez, and Adam Jones.
- Daisuke Matsuzaka is the most successful player of the World Baseball Classic, with 2 MVP titles (2006 and 2009), followed by Robinson Canó (2013) and Marcus Stroman (2017).
- Japan and Puerto Rico had 9 players named to an All-WBC team, the most of all countries.
- The Dominican Republic, South Korea, and the United States all had 7 players named to an All-WBC team, the second-most in the competition’s history.
- The average attendance of the World Baseball Classic has been increasing throughout the years. It started at 18,900 in 2016 and reached an all-time high of 24,342 in 2017.
- The World Baseball Classic is one of the largest and most prominent baseball competitions, alongside the Major League Baseball (MLB), Baseball World Cup, and the NCAA Baseball Championship.
- Each World Baseball Classic is held across several countries, while the finals are always in the United States.
- In 2017, the World Baseball Classic was held across Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the United States.
- The upcoming World Baseball Classic is slated to be hosted by Taiwan, Japan, and the United States.
- The most popular and legal online bookmakers for World Baseball Classic betting include Bet365, Pinnacle Sports, BetMGM, Unibet, and Bovada.
- The first 2 WBS (2006, 2009) were limited to 16 countries but later expanded to 20, with the addition of qualifiers.
- The top 12 teams from a World Baseball Classic get an automatic bye for the next tournament, while the remaining nations must fight through the qualifiers.
- The WBC was designed as a triennial tournament, set to happen every 3 years, but it became a quadrennial event after 2009.
- There were only 4 World Baseball Classic tournaments due to the event’s cancellation in 2021 amid COVID-19 concerns.
Bottom Line
There are many ways you can bet on the World Baseball Classic and many approaches you can take. From betting on singles to combining games into parlays and even exploring the world of in-play wagering, World Baseball Classic betting has many ways of keeping your options open.
And as long as you learn and follow the basics and stick to a betting plan, wagering on the international baseball spectacle won’t only be simple but potentially highly profitable. So even if you’re a beginner sports bettor that enjoys watching baseball, the World Baseball Classic is a perfect competition to test your knowledge of the game while chasing profit betting on the game you love.
If you’ve read our betting guide, you should know everything there is to know how to make a profit wagering on the World Baseball Classic. Now you’re set to find the best betting sites, visit the best sportsbooks for World Baseball Classic gambling, and start wagering on one of the most popular and prestigious baseball tournaments!