[ad_1]
On Monday, Major League Baseball continues the 2021 All-Star Game festivities in Denver with the Home Run Derby at Coors Field. This year marks the first All-Star Game and associated festivities since 2019. The 2020 edition has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 Home Run Derby pitch features some of the best (and youngest) hitters in the game today.
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani of the Angels is headlining, and he will be joined by Juan Soto of the Nationals, Joey Gallo of the Rangers, Matt Olson of the A’s, Trevor Story of the Rockies host, Pete Alonso of the Mets, Trey Mancini of the Orioles and Salvador Perez of the Royals.
Coors Field is already a batting environment, and baseballs used in the Derby this year will not be placed in a humidifier in advance. This means we could have a memorable Monday night.
Here’s how to watch this year’s Home Run Derby:
2021 home racing derby
Or: Coors Field, Denver | When: 8 p.m. ET Monday, July 12
TV: ESPN | Direct: fuboTV (try for free)
Strong points: CBS Sports Headquarters
Derby Home Run Support
Entrants are ranked based on the number of home runs they have completed this season when the range was created on Wednesday. Ties are broken by 2020 home run totals, except in the case of Mancini and Alonso. Since Mancini did not play in 2020, their totals from 2019 were used as a tiebreaker.
- # 1 Shohei Ohtani vs. # 8 Juan Soto
- # 2 Joey Gallo vs. # 7 Trevor Story
- # 3 Matt Olson vs. # 6 Trey Mancini
- # 4 Salvador Perez vs. # 5 Pete Alonso
Along with the presence of Ohtani, who could be the AL MVP favorite thanks to his excellence on the plate and on the mound this season, there’s also the inspiring Mancini, who is a survivor of a stage 3 colon cancer. Alonso, who won the 2019 Derby, arrives as the defending champion. At 22, Soto is the youngest Derby participant this year. And if you’ve seen Gallo lose his mind with his batting practice before the 2014 Futures Game, then you can imagine what he’s capable of in that sort of format.
Speaking of format, this is a knockout tournament. Each competitor has three minutes in the first and second rounds to hit as many home runs as possible. In the final, each player has two minutes. Players can also receive bonus time based on home run distance. Each batter gets a 45-second time-out in each of the regulation periods (i.e., not for an added bonus time). Any tie in any round will be broken by a 60 second “swing off”. The winner receives a prize of one million dollars.
Home derby odds
William Hill has released the betting odds for the event and Ohtani is the favorite to win in Denver. Here are the full odds for the eight-man field:
- Shohei Ohtani: +300
- Joey Gallo: +450
- Pete Alonso: +500
- Matt Olson: +600
- Salvador Pérez: +800
- Juan Soto: +800
- Trevor’s Story: +900
- Trey Mancini: +1200
Prediction
The CBS Sports team of MLB writers recently hosted a panel discussion on this same topic, and five writers made four different predictions – Story, Ohtani, Mancini, and OIson. As Ohtani was the only participant to win two votes from us, we will go with him. After all, he’s the MLB home run leader and he also hits the ball harder than almost anyone.
[ad_2]
Source link