How Does Time Off Impact Sports Betting?

Every team takes time off now and again as a result of scheduling.  In the NFL and college football, for example, this is known as a “bye week.”  In other sports, teams take time off as well.  Time off is one of the many factors which can have an impact on team form and player form, so it is something that you are going to want to pay close attention to when you are betting online on sports.

What impact does time off have on a team?  That actually depends on the sport and on the team.  In football, time off usually affords a team some time to rest and recover.  They often come back stronger.  During the bye week, they may also have had time to work on their strategies, and may play smarter as well when they get back out there. 

In baseball, a team which finishes a playoff series early may get stuck waiting for an opponent to finish their series.  During this time, they may also rest and recover, but oftentimes they don’t come back stronger.  They actually come back out of shape and without having done a lot of practice or strategizing while they were waiting.  As a result, they may actually be the weaker performer.

While there are trends with time off in different types of sports, there are also trends for different teams and how they tend to spend their time off.  Likewise, there may be trends you can identify for particular players if you research.  This is important to check into as well, because individual players may also sometimes take time off for various reasons (often to recover from injuries).  It can be helpful to know how that player’s form is likely to shape up when he returns to the game.

For this reason, you should never just assume that time off is going to have a particular impact.  Always do your research.  You could find that one team usually comes back strong from time off while another tends to lag in performance.  You may discover that rest and rejuvenation is great for one player and disastrous for another. 

Following time off impact trends can give you an advantage over other punters.  Imagine for example that a baseball team has been taking time off waiting for an opponent.  Most punters may assume out of hand they will be out of shape and out of practice, but you may know from studying historical statistics that this particular team tends to come back strong.  If so, you might make a bet against the favourite and actually come out the winner. 

Likewise, imagine that a player has been injured and is just coming back to bat.  Others may assume that the player will perform poorly since he is out of practice, but maybe you know that he has a tendency to come back and play a great game after he has some time to “reset” his performance.  These are just a couple of ways that this knowledge could benefit you.