Point Spread

In the last section when we explained what a moneyline is, we established that Toronto is the favorite and Cleveland is the underdog in our hypothetical baseball game, which is established when the oddsmakers set their odds for each team in the matchup.

As we know, the game is in Toronto, their ace is on the mound, and Cleveland's leading hitter just hit the DL.

Taking this all into consideration, all signs point to Toronto being the favorite and Cleveland being the underdog. The question now becomes, how much of a favorite is Toronto?

To acknowledge the fact that there is a favorite and an underdog, oddsmakers will assign a “point spread” to the matchup, which basically gives the underdog team an artificial “head start”.

The Point Spread is +1.5 for Cleveland, which means that when they start the matchup and the real score is 0-0, Cleveland will actually be leading 1.5-0 for the purposes of picking a winner. 

Say at the end of the matchup, the real score is Cleveland 5, and Toronto 6.

If you picked Toronto on the moneyline, you would have picked correctly because they won the matchup.

But with the point spread, it’s a different story.

Because Cleveland started with an artificial 1.5-run lead, it gets added to their real score at the end of the game. Adding 1.5 to their real score of 5 gives them an adjusted score of 6.5, which is now better than Toronto’s real score of 6! 

In this scenario, Cleveland is said to have covered the spread, meaning that they won the game with their head start.

On the other hand, if the final score at the end of the matchup is Cleveland 4 and Toronto 6, then their adjusted score is 5.5 (1.5-run head start plus a real score of 4). However, even with the head start, Cleveland’s adjusted score (5.5) is less than Toronto’s real score of 6.

This time, Toronto is said to have covered the spread. 

Of course, if Cleveland won the matchup outright, then they automatically cover the spread.

While sometimes a source of confusion for people new to making picks, all the point spread really does is makes picking either team equally attractive!

Takeaway: the Point Spread gives the underdog a “head start”, which is intended to eliminate the favorite team’s perceived advantage.