How much of a swing is home field advantage when betting on Major League Baseball?

Of all the major sports, home field advantage in baseball is the least important. That being said, it’s still better to be home. Ten of the 30 teams had losing records at home last season. Overall, the home team in baseball wins approximately 55% of the time. Which of course means, the visitors are winning 45% of those games. The home team is favored far more often than the road team, which means you’ll be laying odds more often when betting on the home club.

The World Champion Red Sox were the best home team in 2018, with a 57-24 mark. So you’d be a winner if you took them at home all season, despite having to lay big odds most of the time. Let’s look at the Houston Astros, who won 103 games last year, yet won just 11 more times than they lost at home. If you bet on them all season at home, you would have likely lost money, because they were favored and a lot of the times heavily. There must be some other reason to bet the home team, right?

Actually, there is. In all other major sports, they use a clock. That’s not the case in baseball and the home team will always bat last if the game is tied or they’re trailing. They always get the final chance to win.