Comprehensive Glossary of Terms | Clear Explanations
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Runline is a betting term in baseball and other sports that refers to a spread used to even out the odds between two teams. The runline typically involves a team being favored by 1.5 runs, meaning they must win by at least two runs for a bet on them to be successful. Conversely, the underdog team can lose by one run or win the game outright for a bet on them to be successful.
In practice, if Team A is playing against Team B, and Team A is favored with a runline of -1.5, they need to win the game by a score of 5-3 (for instance) for a bet on them to pay off. If Team B loses 5-4, bets on Team B would win, while bets on Team A would lose since they didn’t cover the spread.
For example, if a game ends with Team A beating Team B 6-3, bets on Team A would win if placed on the -1.5 runline, while bets on Team B would win if placed on the +1.5 runline.