Sports Betting Articles

The purpose for keeping track of data on Umpires is to learn of any biases that may be inherent in the way an individual umpire calls balls and strikes or shows sentiment for or against the home team. Psychological and other intangible factors might be used to explain why such behavior occurs. But we believe to just look at the results and use them in determining whether any biases are evident, subconcious or otherwise.

As handicappers we must be aware of the factors likely to have the greatest influences on the outcome of a game. Obviously the home umpire is the individual who exerts the greatest influence in a game since he makes a determination on any pitch that is not hit as to whether it is a ball or a strike.

At Logical Approach we use Umpire data as a secondary factor in our handicapping. By that we mean that we do not use the data to put us on to a play. Rather, we use the data to supplement, reinforce or contradict a play otherwise selected.

As an example, if there is a game we are considering as an OVER play, and the home plate umpire has shown a very strong tendency to be involved in OVER games, our OVER play is strengthened. Conversely, if the home plate umpire has shown a strong tendency to be involved in UNDER games, we might back off our OVER play if it was only a marginal or luke warm play using other factors. If it were a strong OVER play, we might still play the game OVER despite the umpire's strong UNDER tendency, but might cut back on the size of the play.

UMPIRE ROTATIONIn general, the Umpiring rotation is as follows: HOME ---> THIRD ---> SECOND ---> FIRST ---> HOME

Thus, today's first base Umpire will be behind the plate tomorrow. There are always exceptions to this rule (such as with short crews, umpire vacations, umpire injuries, etc.). But the above rotation is reliable 95 + % of the time.

Thus it is easy to anticipate which umpire will be behind the plate in a given game once the umpiring crew is known. For the second and following games of a series this information is fairly easy to determine. Just look in the boxscore for the opening game of the series and the first base umpire in that opening game will be behind the plate in game two.

But what about the Opening game of a series? Fortunately, most wire services report the umpiring assignments some ten to twenty minutes prior to the scheduled start of every game. Access to a sports news source on the Internet (such as ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN-SI, etc.) will allow you to get this imformation before the start of the game. In Las Vegas sports books this information comes across the ticker that appears in virtually every sports book. Thus we can know in advance the home plate umpire in every game (not just the opening game) by watching the ticker or surfing the Internet.

Prior to the 2000 season Umpires were supervised by the American League and National Leagues and, with the exception of Interleague games, worked games only within their League. Beginning in 2000 all Umpires are under the single jurisdiction of Major League Baseball and are assigned to games in both leagues.

We have Umpire stats broken down by league for years prior to 2000, covering the 1999 season, the 1998 season and three year data for 1995-97. The 1998 and 1999 Pages have data for both Leagues whereas the 1995-97 data has separate pages for each League and can be accessed by clicking on the desired link below. The Reports show data for each umpire when they are behind home plate. The results include the home/road results as well as the Over/Under/Push results, including the average total runs scored per game. For 1999 we have added the Umpire's Strikeout to Walk Ratio for Starting Pitchers. We hope you enjoy, and profit from, the stats!

Starting in 2000 we have just a single chart that shows the statistics for all Major League Umpires. A few new categories were added for 2000 including the ERA of the starting pitchers in each game for which an Umpire is behind home plate, the ratio of Baserunners Allowed Per Inning for the starting pitchers and the average number of walks issued per 9 Innings per starting pitcher.

This article courtesy of http://www.thelogicalapproach.com