Justin Edmonds/Getty Images. Pictured: The All-Star Game logo over Coors Field in Denver.
The 2021 Home Run Derby is set to take place on Monday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) from Coors Field in Denver, as eight of MLB’s premiere sluggers will swing for the fences in the thin air of the Mile High City.
The Home Run Derby is unique in many ways, and for bettors it’s a premiere event in that it takes center stage while the rest of the sport — as well as other sports around the country — are on break.
Ordinarily, it’s the only major pro sporting event on the calendar, but even with the NBA Finals still in full swing, Monday and Tuesday are both off days. The WNBA begins its Olympic break after Sunday, too, and with the NHL season over and Euro 2020 wrapping up over the weekend, the Home Run Derby stands alone for fans and bettors alike.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or first-time bettor, there are plenty of ways you can lay down your cold hard cash while enjoying the event on Monday night. Here, we will break down all the many ways you can do so:
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Outright Winner
The first and most obvious way you can bet on the Home Run Derby is simply picking the winner, which you can find at any legal sportsbook. Here are the odds, via PointsBet:
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani | +300 |
| Joey Gallo | +350 |
| Pete Alonso | +450 |
| Juan Soto | +500 |
| Trevor Story | +600 |
| Matt Olson | +750 |
| Trey Mancini | +1000 |
| Salvador Perez | +1000 |
| Odds via PointsBet and as of July 9 | |
As is the case with most events, odds vary depending on the book, so be sure to shop around to find the best price on the hitter you think has the best chance to win.
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Longest Home Run
It doesn’t end there, of course, as many books offer a variety of props, so you can pick and choose whatever suits your betting needs. DraftKings, for example, offers a variety of uber-specific action, including how far the longest home run will travel:
| Length of Longest Home Run (Measured in Feet) |
|---|
| Over 503.5 (-113) |
| Under 503.5 (-113) |
It’s important to remember that Coors Field is the most home run-friendly ballpark in MLB. The stadium sits 5,190 feet above sea level, more than 4,000 feet higher than the second-highest park in the league (Arizona’s Chase Field at 1,086 is second, for reference). Simply put: The thin air makes the baseball travel further.
Even with the use of a humidor (a temperature- and humidity-controlled device in which the baseballs are stored to help deaden the ball and regulate conditions), Coors Field this year still has a home run park effect of 110 (10 percent above the average), the highest of any park in baseball, according to Statcast.
That’s been the case in virtually every season since park effects have been tracked, with the lowest number on record 109 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Major League Baseball announced this week that the humidor would not be used for the Home Run Derby.
So what does that mean for this prop? Well, the over is within reach.
The longest home run in Coors Field history was hit 504 feet by Giancarlo Stanton in 2016. The Statcast record in a humidor-free environment was 513 feet by Aaron Judge at Marlins Park in 2017.
This year’s competitors will truly need to take things to another level to get there, still, as Shohei Ohtani has the longest 2021 home run of all of this year’s participants at 470 feet.
Speaking of long home runs, you can also bet on which player will hit the longest one on the night. Here are those odds, along with each participant’s longest home run of the season:
| Player | Longest HR Odds | Longest 2021 HR (in feet) |
|---|---|---|
| Joey Gallo | +350 | 462 |
| Shohei Ohtani | +400 | 470 |
| Pete Alonso | +425 | 443 |
| Trevor Story | +600 | 466 |
| Matt Olson | +700 | 445 |
| Juan Soto | +750 | 437 |
| Salvador Perez | +800 | 460 |
| Trey Mancini | +1000 | 451 |
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Handedness and League
But wait, there’s more.
You can also bet on the handedness of the winner and which league that player comes from.
At DraftKings, you can bet on a right-handed batter to win at +120, and a left-handed batter to win at -155. An American League batter winning comes in at -195, while a National League batter claiming victory is +150.
Here’s the breakdown of the field sorted by both handedness and league:
| Player | LH/RH | League |
|---|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani | LH | AL |
| Joey Gallo | LH | AL |
| Pete Alonso | RH | NL |
| Matt Olson | LH | AL |
| Salvador Perez | RH | AL |
| Juan Soto | LH | NL |
| Trevor Story | RH | NL |
| Trey Mancini | RH | AL |
Exact Outcomes
Finally, there’s the always risky and enticing “exact outcome” bet.
Ohtani and Gallo are the two favorites, so what if you think Ohtani is going to beat Gallo in the finals? You can get that at +1070. Maybe you like hometown hero Story to beat the defending champ, Alonso? That’s +2690. If there’s a result you like, you can bet it.
But it’s important to keep the bracket in mind. The Home Run Derby changed to a bracket-style format in 2015, and hitters are now seeded depending on how many home runs they’ve hit this season at the time the field was set.
Here’s this year’s bracket:
Where To Bet
Most of the above odds come via DraftKings, where you can legally bet in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
BetRivers also offers Home Run Derby props for bettors in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It has the length and league props available.
BetMGM offers the league winner prop in addition to outright winner odds, and books such as FanDuel, PointsBet, SportsBetting.com and more all offer outright winner odds, so be sure to shop around to find the best odds ahead of Monday night’s event.
Thanks to The Action Network’s Samantha Previte for research assistance.