Off to a winning baseball start, long-time MLB sharp Stephen Nover has found his Total of the Week on the Friday baseball card. Don't miss it!
Member Notes
Today’s Free Picks
| Sport | Game Selection | Game Time |
|---|---|---|
| MLB | (657) San Francisco Giants at (658) Washington Nationals | 6:00pm EDT - Apr 17/2026 |
The PLAY: Over +8 (-110) Action
No National League team has played more Overs this season than Washington. The Over has cashed in 13 of Washington's 19 games. That's not a huge surprise considering the Nationals are averaging the second most runs in the majors while having the highest bullpen ERA at 6.15.
The Nationals have scored at least five runs in 14 of their 19 games. Now they host the Giants and Logan Webb, who has a history of pitching much worse on the road with a 3.98 ERA compared to a 2.90 ERA when pitching in San Francisco.
The Giants' run production is down on the season. But lately San Francisco's offense has shown life scoring at least six runs in three of the past five games. San Francisco ranks 11th in batting average.
Not only do the Giants get to face the worst bullpen in the majors, but also draw starting pitcher Zack Littell. He has a 4.20 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP and has surrendered five homers in 15 innings.
(Editor's note: Stephen Nover has his MLB Total of the Week today in addition to this free selection. Stephen is 28-15 on his last 43 premium/free NBA plays and 32-16-2 on his last 50 NHL premium/free plays.)
Consultant Bio
Stephen Nover is unique among professional handicappers. A multiple award-winning sportswriter for numerous newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nover has one the best combinations of gambling and media sources in the world.
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", Nover is a former professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas having taught a football handicapping class there. He also was the co-host of the Sunday night sports betting radio show "The Stardust Line" during the 1990's.
Parlaying nearly 50 years worth of professional gambling experience with tremendous knowledge of the players through elite deep-roster Rotisserie leagues and building on copious gaming and media sources - having worked for newspapers in the Midwest, South and West and also for legendary Hall of Fame oddsmaker Roxy Roxborough - Nover is a true Las Vegas wise guy. He helped learn his craft from such masters as Roxborough, Dave Malinsky, Lem Banker and Russ Culver.
Part of what makes Nover so special is the pride he takes in writing his deep-dive analysis, which always is unique, well-researched and sometimes entails out-of-the-box thinking.