Betting on Baseball's All-Star Game

2021 Mid-Summer Classic Throws Out First Pitch Tuesday Night in Denver

After a year off due to COVID, Major League Baseball's All-Star Game returns to the diamond, this time at Coors Field in Denver.

Aside from the year off, the American League has dominated the annual summer matchup in the last decade. The A.L. is currently on a 7-game winning streak.  It's hard to make a case this has any bearing on what will happen Tuesday night, but it's a fact, nonetheless.

The All-Star game is challenging to handicap.  Nonetheless, there are unique characteristics of this game that might provide some value.  The National League has and incredibly impressive pitching staff.  The American League arguably has the more powerful lineup at the plate.  The location of this game might be the key as to which factor and side prevails.

Denver's Coors Field is well known as a hitters ballpark.  Advantage: American League.  Indeed, the A.L. and the OVER might be the way to go, in what's called a "correlated parlay."

Here's the odds at SPREADS.CA:

It’s easy to say the National League is way “overdue” to win a game, but the N.L. roster just lost one of their best players, Ronald Acuna, Jr. to a season-ending injury.

So, it's surprising to see the National League still list as the slight favourites tonight.  As stated, the A.L. has won seven straight -- along with 25 of the last 32 games.  It's hard to figure out why exactly the American League enjoys such an overwhelming success given that rosters change from year to year and there's no obvious edge most of the time.

The Dodgers, Brewers, and Padres were the most represented teams this year each having five representatives on the overall roster.  After that the Blue Jays, Astros, Nationals, and White Sox all have four players represented.  Teams with only one All-Star representative this year include the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins, Mariners, Twins, Tigers, and Orioles.

Prediction:  The host ballpark is the key here.  Colorado is known as a graveyard for good pitchers, so both staffs should struggle versus potent hitting lineups.  The American League has some value based on their historical success, but going OVER 11 runs appears to be the best value.  Look for a fair number of longballs and a game that sails over the total.

Final Score Forecast – American League 7, National League 5