Your baseball blog should be keeping up to date on the injury news of your favorite team, or a team that you’re looking to wager a little on during the season, but if something happens in February or March, will it affect things later in the season?

It all depends on the sort of injury; obviously, a team’s odds at online betting sites will be affected if they lose a player in spring training for the entire season, especially if it’s an important player, but you also have to be wary of whether a team can fill the void. For example, St. Louis’ odds probably dropped a little when Adam Wainwright was lost for the 2011 campaign with an elbow injury, but the Cardinals had enough veterans to make up for his absence and ended up winning the World Series.

But it doesn’t have to be a huge injury to affect a team; some players may get a hamstring injury or something to do with a toe, something that will linger throughout the season and that has to be considered when you evaluate a team’s odds.

Basically, injuries can pop up at any time in the spring as players are still stretching their limbs out and they could definitely have an effect on the season, perhaps long term. Don’t discount an injury in spring training because if it rears its head again in the regular season, you may want to change your sports bet.

MLB blogs are anxiously following the beginning of the regular season, but they’ve been on their job since February when spring training started, and they were certainly on top of things throughout spring-training action. But how much of a factor do spring training results play in making a long-run decision?

By long-run decision, we mean picking a World Series winner at a legal online sports betting website, and you shouldn’t really put too much stock into what happens in the spring when it comes to World Series futures. For the most part, teams are playing their youngest players and those who are on the fringe of making the roster, not their bonafide stars and veterans who are going to be on the team. They’ll play a little more as we get closer to the regular season, but a large part of spring training is about how you’re going to fill out the roster.

Now, this can help in terms of figuring out a team’s depth chart, and teams that have a lot of depth usually stand a good chance of going far in the regular season and postseason, but that means nothing if you don’t have top-end talent and that is what you don’t get to see during spring training. For the best players, spring training is about working out the kinks and shaking off the rust, and it shouldn’t be a major factor in your sport betting book.

Your MLB blog is hitting second gear right now as the regular season is right around the corner, but you can always start wagering on the action on the diamond in spring training and here are a few tips before you get into it.

You have to be be careful when you’re wagering on spring training, especially in the early part of the schedule as a lot of managers will use that to give the younger and non-roster invitees a chance to strut their stuff. You should use these games to get a better feel for what you’ll wager on when you bet on MLB lines later in the schedule.

As we get closer towards the regular season, that is when you’ll see the stars and veteran get a little more time as the manager wants them to be basically rust-free by the time Opening Day rolls around. You’ll see ace pitchers start throw five innings or so, as opposed to two and three when spring training starts, and All-Star position players will also start to play more; maybe not every day (especially the wily veterans who could pull a hamstring), but every two or three days.

Spring training should really be a window into which players are going to make the roster, but in today’s age where you can find out lineups and which pitchers will take to the mound, even in split-squad games (when teams are split into two and sent to different locations so the coaching staff can give everyone enough playing time), you can gather enough information to make an educated sports betting pick.

March Madness scores are about to steal the spotlight as the NCAA Tournament play-in games begin on Tuesday night, go into Wednesday and then the round of 64 tips off on Thursday. Betting sharps are going to have their hands full when wagering on spreads, but you don’t have to be afraid…just a little more diligent.

You should always look at a team with depth, especially among the bigger teams because that means there is a better chance of holding onto a cover of a sizeable spread than a team that yanks their starters, and allows the opposition to come back for a backdoor cover. March Madness spread players are usually biting their nails late into a blowout for this reason exactly. If there is a 20-point spread, for example, once the younger players come in, there are plenty of chances for the opposition to score enough to beat that spread.

You also have experienced coaches and players who know how to keep their foot on the gas for the full 40 minutes, and those are good bets usually to cover any spread you throw at them. Look at the ATS records throughout the season to give you an idea of how to bet during the NCAA Tournament.

Wagering on spreads can be terrifying at times, but it adds an element to betting that can’t be beat. Just be sure to do your research before you bet on sports throughout March Madness.