Pitchers to dominate yet another All-Star Game

The American League is the slight favourite for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Kansas City but the best betting opportunity comes on the total runs line.

Even though the MLB All-Star Game matters more than most representative events such as it - this is because the league that wins the Midsummer Classic gets home-field advantage for that year`s World Series - it is very difficult to bet heavily on the match result.

There are many logical reasons as to why there is not much between the American League and the National League in MLB All-Star Game betting, the most obvious of which is that both teams are stacked with the world`s best players and neither side has what anyone could say was a weak link.

It is the strength of the teams that make betting on the total runs line and, specifically, a relatively low-scoring match stand out as the best possible investment available.

Baseball fans love the sluggers, big guys who hit home runs for fun, but the sport revolves around the pitchers, the men on the mound with the ball in their hands. The identities of the starting pitchers are so important that bookmakers seldom offer odds before they are announced publicly.

Justin Verlander and Matt Cain will be the starting pitchers for the American League and National League respectively. Verlander, of Detroit, has a 9-5 record this season and an earned run average of 2.58. The Tigers thrower has struck out a MLB-leading 128 batters in 132.2 innings. Cain, of San Francisco, has a 9-3 record this term and an ERA of 2.62. He has been the stabilising force in the Giants rotation with two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum in horrible form.

What makes the MLB All-Star Game under so interesting is that Verlander and Cain are backed up by several of the world`s best starting and closer pitchers. None of these guys are easy to hit and all of them are coming in fresh.

They have been 82 MLB All-Star Games previously, with the National League leading the series 42 to 38 with two ties. The bookmakers look like setting the total runs line for this year`s encounter at 8.5. The last four MLB All-Star Games have gone under 8.5 runs and five of the last six.

Last year, for example, the National League defeated the American League 5-1 in Phoenix. Only three men pitched more than one inning - Roy Halliday (2), Cliff Lee (1.2) and Jair Jurrjens (1.2) - and only one hitter, Rickie Weeks, had more than two attempts at hitting the ball out of the park.

Some commentators joke that the busiest person at the MLB All-Star Game is the ground announcer who communicates the in-match team changes. They are correct as well as funny.

The constant substitutions means that the hitters do not get more than one look at a particular pitcher and, because of the inter-league nature of the MLB All-Star Games, many of the match-ups are completely new. There have no history.

So take a punt on the MLB All-Star Game, once again, being all about dozens of big names getting a very small piece of the action and the pitchers coming out on top handsomely.

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11/07/2012     © Frixo 2024