The Colorado Rockies aren’t playing right now, but what if you could still enjoy jaw-dropping fielding and powerful home runs? Pesäpallo, also known as Finnish baseball, has you covered. What’s more, the sport can supply your betting fix in Colorado as well.
Finnish baseball is one of many sports that Colorado allows its legal sportsbooks to take action on. As soon as they are up, that might be the best time to learn about the sport and get your money down on the markets.
What is pesäpallo and why might Colorado sportsbooks post markets for the sport?
Pesäpallo traces its roots back to 1907 when a Finnish man visited the United States and took in a baseball game. Upon returning to his native land, he came up with his own alterations on the sport’s designs.
There are many similarities between the two sports. As with baseball, there’s a pitcher who puts the ball in play and a hitter who attempts to land the ball where defenders can’t get to it. While defenders are chasing the ball down, the hitter attempts to touch all the bases and score a run for her/his team.
For all the similarities, there are some prominent differences, however. The basepath is not a diamond shape but rather follows a zig-zag pattern over the field. The pitcher also acts as her/his own catcher. In addition, catching the ball off the bat does not count as an out; the defender still must either tag the runner or the base with possession of the ball.
While Finnish baseball is obscure here in the US, it’s very popular in European countries. In Finland there are several levels of the sport, including top-flight professional leagues for both men and women. The structure of that top-flight level is called Superpesis. It’s like MLB for baseball in the US.
Because MLB has yet to start its season, Finnish baseball could sort of fill in that gap. It’s similar enough for both bettors and oddsmakers, and more importantly, games are actually ongoing right now.
That’s most likely the fixture that CO legal online sportsbooks will post action on if they do so. If that happens, that will afford some potential opportunities for bettors willing to put in the effort and time to handicap the matches.
Why now might be the best time to bet on Finnish baseball at CO legal online sportsbooks
Most bettors’ level of familiarity with Finnish baseball in comparison to the brand of the sport played in the US is low. The same applies to oddsmakers for Colorado’s legal online sportsbooks. Their ability to handicap markets for Finnish baseball is likely much less spot-on in comparison to other US sports.
For a bettor, that means pesäpallo markets might not be as strongly skewed toward the book as other markets. It also means that if you really dedicate yourself to handicapping these contests, you might actually do so better than the books.
Additionally, the level of betting activity on these markets is likely to be low in comparison to other sports more popular in the US. That’s another reason you might be able to take advantage of markets that could be inappropriately skewed toward one side.
The path exists for you to become a pesäpallo betting expert. There’s no guarantee that will be a lucrative path, but at the very least, Colorado has made room for bettors within its borders to start down it.
