Day or Night Matters in Baseball Betting

One of the things a baseball better needs to understand is that day games are higher scoring than night games and are ideal for making bets on the game to go over the total. Night games, on the other hand, are lower scoring, and naturally, were better suited to go under the total.

The logic behind the concept makes sense, in that is easier for the hitters to see the ball during the daytime and the air is generally thinner, which makes the ball carry better. Likewise, it is harder for the hitters to pick up the baseball during games played under the lights and the air is heavier, so the ball wouldn't carry as far.

There were a number of betting systems that used these factors as the foundation for making over/under wagers. Bettors are supposed to wager over the total in day games that involved two finesse pitchers. The logic behind the wager is that pitchers who didn't throw hard and record a lot of strikeouts have even more difficulty in the daytime.

The other side of the system has bettors wagering under the total when two strikeout pitchers would square off against each other under the lights. The premise naturally being that it is harder for hitters to pick up the ball and they have even less time to react against hard-throwing pitchers.

The system had a nice run of success back in its day, but as is the case with many of the old sports gambling systems, no longer can be counted on for continued profits.

Over the last four years, starting pitchers have Earned Run Averages that are extremely close to each other for daytime and nighttime games. Naturally, there are some exceptions like Jake Peavy, who has an ERA nearly two runs better at night, while on the other hand a pitcher like Pedro Martinez has an ERA that is well over a run better when throwing in the daytime, despite being a power pitcher, at least before his injury problems.

The basic fact is there are some pitchers who have better numbers in the day and some who have performed better at night regardless if they are finesse pitchers or power pitchers and there doesn't appear to be any real advantage one way or the other.

One interesting fact I uncovered is that there is a slight advantage to home teams in the daytime, as they tend to win at a slightly higher clip (57% vs. 55%) than they do during night games. The home teams dodn't win at a high enough ratio to be considered a worthwhile system, but it is something baseball bettors may want to store away for future reference.