What is Grand Salami in Sports Betting?

Grand Salami Explained in Detail

The grand salami is most popular in hockey and baseball, where daily schedules feature many games simultaneously. On a typical NHL night with 8 games, the grand salami might be set at 45.5 total goals. On a full MLB slate, it might be set at 85.5 total runs. Bettors analyze the entire day's matchups to determine whether the total feels high or low.

Handicapping the grand salami requires a broad view of the day's games rather than deep analysis of any single matchup. You need to assess starting pitchers, offensive matchups, weather conditions (for outdoor sports), and back-to-back situations that might affect scoring. One blowout game can significantly impact the grand salami total.

The grand salami is appealing because it smooths out the variance of individual game totals. While any single game's total might land far from expectations, the combined total across many games tends to cluster closer to the expected value. This makes the grand salami somewhat more predictable than individual game totals, though the margins are still tight.

Some sharp bettors use the grand salami as a hedge or as a way to express a view on league-wide scoring trends. If you believe that the league is in a high-scoring era or that a particular night's schedule favors offensive games, the grand salami lets you bet that thesis without picking sides in individual games.