It's standard handicapping procedure to check who the home plate umpire is going to be when deciding to make an over/under wager in baseball.
NBA basketball is different - unless you can find out if one of the referees is going to be Eric Lewis. If that happens to be the case, you might want to avoid going under the total.
Lewis has officiated 65 games this season. The over has cashed 46 of 65 times in those contests for 71 percent. The next closest official is Michael Smith when it comes to overs. The over has cashed 61 percent of the time during Smith's 62 games.
Going over the total when Lewis is on the floor isn't automatic. But it sure is a strong plus if already considering the over.
(Editor's note: Nover's Daily View is written commentary provided exclusively to Pregame by Stephen Nover. Stephen has been on the sports gaming scene for 30 years. Stephen has parlayed a 20-year career as an award-winning sportswriter, part-time oddsmaker for legendary linesmaker Roxy Roxborough, co-host of the former Sunday Night Stardust Line radio show, teacher of a football handicapping class at UNLV and author of two sports gaming books and a book on fantasy football, into becoming one of the top handicappers in the country.
A native of Wisconsin, Stephen covered college and pro sports for daily newspapers in the Midwest, South and West, including 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Stephen is The author of two sports gambling books, "Las Vegas Sports Beat" and "Sports Gaming Beat", along with a book on fantasy football titled, "Winning Fantasy Football."
Stephen taught a football handicapping class in the fall of 2004 at UNLV and was the co-host of the Sunday night sports betting radio show "The Stardust Line" for many years building up a lifetime of outstanding sources and connections.)
On the handicapping front, I have a discounted early MLB play going today. I am 1-0 on my baseball Triple Stars after cashing with the Red Sox against the Yankees on Friday.
As always, no bad luck!