Betting on sports, especially baseball, can be exciting if you know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, you could easily lose money through a combination of misunderstanding and enthusiasm. Learning how to find baseball picks and turn them into money-makers gets more straightforward as you become familiar with how to do it. As you're learning, though, exercise caution. Betting on baseball is a lot of fun, and even the best bettors can make mistakes and choose the wrong team to bet on. But repeated mistakes can make the fun peter out. Begin betting cautiously, and you have a much better chance of finding a really enjoyable pastime. 

Start Small

This should go without saying, but it's unfortunately easy to overlook this one bit of advice if you're eager to get going: Start small. Choose one game, with well-matched teams, and put down only a small amount of money. Get used to the system before you start trying to (legally) outwit it and win big. Even if your friends say they have the most amazing betting system, even if they say they know an underdog team is going to suddenly triumph against all odds, play it safe to begin with. As you start to internalize all the unwritten rules and strange issues that can affect betting, you'll be able to branch out into making more complicated bets.

Remember, the Minus Sign Indicates the Better Team

When people see a minus sign, they tend to think it stands for "less than." New bettors can easily mistake it for indicating lower chances. Instead, the minus sign has a different meaning in betting. For example, for the money line (one aspect of betting), it means that the team is the better one and the one that's favored. If you bet on that team, you'd have to put down more money than you have a chance of winning. Think of it this way: This team is most likely to win. So, if you were to put money down on this team, it would supposedly be an easy win for you. But that would also mean everyone could put down tons of money on the team and walk away winners, which would mean there was no risk in the bet. Increasing what you have to put down to win a basic amount increases risk. If the team somehow loses, you lose more money.

Keep in mind that the money line is only one category where you can place a bet. You can also look at the number of runs during the game and other types of bets, either on their own or in combination. Again, start small; maybe avoid the combinations (money line plus run line, for example) until you're used to how betting works. Keep a close eye on what you bet, win, and lose, and you'll have a lot more fun.

Contact a company like Official Picks to learn more.