MLB Betting – Umpires for ‘Under’ Bettors

The ins and outs of betting on ‘totals’ in Major League Baseball can be difficult. Even the greatest online betting guru can make a mistake in handicapping a pair of pitchers by forgetting about the man calling the balls and strikes. Take a look at BetOnline Sportsbook’s umpires you should keep an eye on if you’re looking to place a baseball bet on the ‘under’ in the near future!

Mark Carlson (2-0) – Carlson may only be a part-time umpire, but he’s as dead nuts ‘under’ as it gets. Over the L/2 seasons, he has only umpped three games, but all three contests have stayed comfortably ‘under’ the ‘total’. In his last full season as an umpire in 2007, Carlson called strikes on 62.95% of pitches, and ended up going 20-14 for ‘under’ bettors. His 8.88 runs per game were well below the mean that year. He hasn’t posted a winning season for ‘over’ bettors since 2003 when he went just 16-17 against the ‘under’. In that mix includes a 22-13 season in ’04 and a 21-14 season in ’05. He umpped this season’s first 0-0 game that went into extra innings when the Giants and Padres squared off on Wednesday as well. Carlson may not be behind the plate often, but he’s certainly one to watch as the season moves forward.

John Hirschbeck (2-0) – Few umpires have seen fewer runs cross the plate this season than the umpire that is most famous for the Roberto Alomar incident. Hirschbeck has called a whopping 64.00% of the pitches he has seen this year as strikes, and has netted two easy ‘unders’. There have only been a total of seven runs scored in his two games this season, and that’s with only one fantastic arm taking the hill (Tim Lincecum). In his last start on the 18th, Hirschbeck only allowed two walks and called a shade under 70% of his pitches for strikes. There were a whopping 24 punch outs in the game.

Andy Fletcher (3-0) – Since 2007, Fletcher has been a rough umpire to score runs on. He only umpped 17 games that season, but only an average of 5.89 runs crossed the plate per game, and as a result, ‘under’ bettors went a whopping 13-4. He followed that up by allowing 8.09 runs per game over 28 starts in ’08, and posted another remarkable 17-11 season for the ‘under’. He was particularly effective in games where the ‘total’ was 8.5 or fewer, as ‘under’ bettors went a stunning 15-3 in that situation.

Derryl Cousins (3-0) – None of Cousins’ core numbers suggest that his games should be flying under the ‘total’, nor should many of the pitchers he has seen so far this season instill fear in future investors. Calling 63.5% of pitches as strikes when Carlos Zambrano and Roy Oswalt squared off on Opening Day was to be expected, but since then, he has leveled out to just 60.5% called strikes with an average of 11.3 Ks per game. Still, no game has surpassed nine runs yet under Cousins’ watch this season, but that sure seems like more of a product of luck than umpiring.