Baseball odds don’t have the umpires in them do they? No they don’t but that doesn’t mean umpires can’t greatly influence the outcome of baseball betting odds results.
Baseball odds at the sports book rarely incorporate umpires into them but perhaps they should. Sports betting gamblers who are wagering against baseball odds and play sides and totals, particularly totals, have been looking at umpire tendencies for many years now. Various websites now list the over/under and home/away statistics for umpires for the past decade or so. Certain umpires have a tendency to call a lot of strikes while others call a lot of balls. These tendencies can influence the way a game is going to play out in baseball betting odds and if you are betting a total it sure would help to have an umpire favorable to the way you are going to bet the baseball odds total.
Umpires behind the plate definitely can have an impact on the baseball odds at the sports book. They seem to have more of an influence on totals than sides, but there is considerable data on both in baseball betting odds. As you consider using umpire data you have to be careful not to overreact. There are some sports betting gamblers that do nothing but play games based on the home plate umpire. That is probably a mistake because it is very rare that one handicapping factor alone does well enough against the baseball odds to make you money.
What you should do is take the umpire factor into consideration but that should not be the only factor as you handicap baseball betting odds. You should know that the baseball odds makers go the exact opposite way and don’t give the umpire factor any consideration at all. That is right; they don’t even look at who is behind the plate when making the baseball odds. This is also a mistake. You should be somewhere in the middle if you are going to bet totals in baseball odds. Take a look at who is behind home plate for your game and if you get someone favorable to your side consider putting a little bit more on the game in baseball odds. If you get an umpire that is going against the way you would like to bet the total then look at getting off the game.
The umpire factor should be one factor that you use in handicapping baseball betting odds. Don’t be like the baseball odds maker and ignore them altogether, but look at more than just the home plate umpire as a single factor.