Baseball games are pretty much the only games in major American team sports that get shortened, usually by weather.
Of course, this is going to impact your betting results. If a game is postponed before the first pitch, pretty much all bets will be void. If a game is delayed by rain and resumes the same day, all bets will stand.
The differences come into play in games that go 5+ innings and become official by MLB rules, but don't reach the full 9 innings.
Here are some rules of thumb, and we'll outline more specifics by book below.
- Full-game moneylines become official once the game goes five innings — or if the home team leads after 4.5 innings.
- At most books nowadays — FanDuel, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics and others — bets that have "already reached a definitive result" will still be honored. That means if you bet over 7.5 and the score is 5-4 when the game gets called early, you'll still win. But if you bet under 7.5 and it's 1-0, your bet will be void because an under can never be truly "already determined."
- Other markets like totals, score props, runlines, winning margins, exact scores, etc., may be void because they can't reach a definitive result.
- Props usually follow the same "already determined" rule. If the game doesn't go 9 innings and your prop either hasn't happened or you bet an under, it will be void. If it happened and can't "unhappen", like a player hitting a home run, it will stand.
- Inning bets will generally stand if those innings have been completed. So if you bet a NRFI and won but the game only goes six innings, the bet will still count. Or if you bet a first five innings total, your bet will still count even if the game doesn't go nine innings. If you make an inning bet and the game gets called during that inning, the bet will be void since the official results will revert to the previous inning.
If a game is postponed before the first pitch, sportsbooks will void those wagers no matter what. If a game is suspended and set to be resumed, book rules vary — DraftKings, BetMGM and FanDuel say 36 hours; Fanatics is 48 hours.
If you want to check out these rules for yourself, here are the links by book. They're a little unclear on some things, but may be able to help shed light on any use cases we don't cover below.
MLB Suspended Game Rules by Bet Type
Moneylines
If the game is official by MLB standards, moneyline bets will stand. So if you bet the Mets to beat the Pirates and they're up 4-1 in the seventh inning when the game is called due to lightning, your bet would win.
Over/Under
Historically, overs and unders were voided if the game didn't go nine innings, even if the game had already gone over the total.
That's starting to change at some sportsbooks. FanDuel, BetMGM and Fanatics will pay out bets that are "unequivocally determined" — like if a game has already gone over.
This means an under can never cash in a sub-nine-inning game because you can never say with certainty that the game would have gone under, even if it was 0-0 at Coors Field in the eighth and the total closed at 13.5.
Team/Game Props
The following bets, among many others, will be void if the game doesn't go nine innings:
- Run line
- Winning margin/exact score
- Odds/even number of runs
- Highest scoring inning
That's because you cannot say with certainty, like with an under, that these bets would have won had there been more innings. Even if a team was leading 10-0 and you had them -1.5, the other team could have come back and won, or lost 10-9, had all nine innings been played.
Inning Bets
Most inning bets should stand, as long as those full innings have been completed. If a game is called in the middle of the seventh, any seventh-inning bets will be void.
- If you bet a "no run scored in the first inning bet," it will stand even if the game is terminated before the fifth or called early.
- If you bet a first five inning moneyline and the game gets called in the seventh, your bet will still stand.
- One of the only times an inning bet will be void is if the game is called in that inning, and the official score reverts to the previous inning. Let's say you bet Royals -0.5 runs in the seventh vs. the Twins and the game is called in the bottom of the seventh — your bet will be void even if the Royals scored in the top and were leading that inning.
Player Props
Sportsbooks usually follow the same "unequivocally determined" rule for props.
So if you bet Aaron Judge to hit a home run and he does in the fifth inning, then the game ends in the seventh, your bet will still count.
But if you have Giancarlo Stanton under 0.5 hits and he's hitless but the game is shortened, the bet will be void. Same goes for props that haven't happened — if you bet Stanton to homer and he hasn't, but the game is shortened, most books will void that prop and you'll get your money back.
The house rules at pretty much every sportsbook are not clear on props for suspended games, but this is how most will handle it.
