MLB All Star Game Betting - American League Side Looks To Get Back On Track In 2011
The best in baseball will make the trip to sunny Phoenix, Arizona early next week for the 2011 MLB All Star game, a showcase of the best the majors have to offer. After finally snapping their streak of 13 straight MLB betting losses a year ago, the National League side will look to put together consecutive wins for the first time in this millennium, against another powerful American League squad.
- 2011 MLB All Star Game
- American League vs. National League
- Tuesday July 12, 2011 – 8:00 PM ET
- Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
- MLB Betting Odds: American League – 110
Powerful is the operative word when describing an AL side that has a ton of power hitters in their lineup, led by leading vote-getter and reigning home run king Jose Bautista. The star of the Toronto Blue Jays leads the league in bombs again through the midway mark in the 2011 season, and has a supporting cast that isn’t hesitant to go yard.
MLB Betting Preview: American League
That supporting cast will be very familiar to Bautista, who registered a record 7.4-million votes for this year’s midsummer classic. Six of the other eight AL starters hail from the same division as the Blue Jays, including four sports betting bonus hitters from the New York Yankees. That group includes Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson, who are both right behind Bautista in this year’s home run race. Teixeira and Granderson are joined by Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, while the other two AL East selections are David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox. Reigning AL Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez leads a pitching staff stocked with talent but lacking the big name presence of the NL side.
MLB Betting Preview: National League
While the AL boasts a ton of power hitters, the makeup of the NL roster is based on a ton of talented arms, led by three of the five pitchers in the starting rotation of the Philadelphia Phillies. Last year’s NL Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay is joined by teammates Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee on a staff that will also include Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson of the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants. The NL rode some outstanding pitching to break out from under their losing skid a sports betting year ago, and if they can put together another solid effort then Lance Berkman, Prince Fielder, and company should be able to do enough to earn another win.
MLB Betting Preview: Outlook & Pick
For as good as the NL pitching staff is once again this year, it is not much better than the AL side, and definitely not good enough to overlook how strong the AL lineup is. Bautista, Teixeira, and Granderson alone have combined for close to 80 home runs through the first half of the season, and it will only take one from each for them to at least match last year’s run total as they look to avenge the 3-1 loss.
MLB Betting Pick: American League - 110
