2022 MLB All-Star Game picks: Best bets for Midsummer Classic at Dodger Stadium, including a long-shot MVP
Who will win the game? How many runs will be scored? Let’s make some bets
LOS ANGELES – The 2022 MLB All-Star Game takes place in Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. The Midsummer Classic is always a blast, but we can always enhance that fun by making some picks. Let’s get to it.
2022 MLB All-Star Game
When: Tuesday, July 19 | 8 p.m. ET
Where: Dodger Stadium — Los Angeles, California
TV: FOX | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Odds: NL -115; AL -105; O/U 8 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
The American League has won eight in a row and that’s more haphazard coincidence than anything else, but we’re still gonna ride the wave. Both teams are loaded, of course, so it’s difficult to earnestly break down the game based on the rosters — especially since we have no idea what players are going to play the longest or even get into the game. White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, for example, said he was really excited to get to bat this time since he didn’t bat in last year’s game.
In 2021, the game was in hitter-haven Coors Field and it was only 5-2. In 2019 in Cleveland, the final score was 4-3. In 2017, it was 2-1 in 10 innings. In 2016, it was 4-2. That means in four of the last five games, the total was under eight. The pitchers are just so ridiculously good nowadays and these are two collections of the best pitchers in the world. Starting pitchers will have short outings, meaning their stuff will play up. The relievers in the game are all lights-out types who very rarely allow a run. Someone is going to have to pop a pivotal home run in order to swing the game, but runs will be rare.
The Seattle Mariners have won 14 straight games heading into the All-Star break and should be the biggest story in the sport. Wunderkind Julio Rodríguez would win AL Rookie of the Year for the first half if there were such a thing and he announced his presence with authority to a national audience by putting on a show in the Home Run Derby and getting to the finals, ousting two-time defending champion Pete Alonso along the way. Let’s just predict that he makes the entire All-Star week his national coming-out party. Perhaps it’ll be a big home run or he’ll get on base and steal a bag or two before scoring an important run. Whatever happens, he’ll turn some heads.
The 2022 MLB All-Star festivities are here! You can wear the same gear as your favorite players by buying official hats, shirts, hoodies, and jerseys now. Get MLB All-Star gear here and dress like the pros.
2022 MLB All-Star Game: Best sights and Sounds from Los Angeles
The 2022 MLB All-Star Game has officially gone Hollywood as Dodger Stadium hosts the biggest and brightest names in baseball.
It’ll be familiar territory for Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who is just the sixth pitcher in the past 40 years to start the All-Star Game in his home park.
The Midsummer Classic has been one-sided in recent years, with the American League riding an eight-game winning streak. The AL also has a three-game edge on the series’ overall record of 46-43-2.
The National League has lost 20 of the past 24 All-Star Games but hopes to get back in the win column in this year’s 92nd edition of the midseason showdown with manager Brian Snitker of the defending champion Atlanta Braves.
In the opposing dugout, Dusty Baker, manager of the reigning AL champion Houston Astros, looks to keep the status quo.
Here are the best sights and sounds from Los Angeles, along with a few All-Star Game predictions from MLB experts Jeff Passan, Buster Olney, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield.
All-Star Game predictions
Who will win the All-Star Game and by what score?
Gonzalez: These All-Star Games are often decided late, with the reserves on the field, and the American League’s superior depth and talent will win out in the late innings. With Jose Ramirez, Byron Buxton, Xander Bogaerts, Alek Manoah and Emmanuel Clase coming in late, it’ll ultimately be a boat race — the first in 10 years.
2022 MLB All-Star Game prediction, odds: NL vs. AL Midsummer Classic picks, best bets from MLB expert
When is the MLB All-Star Game 2022? The first pitch from Dodger Stadium is Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET
The National League will aim to stop an extended All-Star Game losing streak on Tuesday evening. The 2022 MLB All-Star Game will take place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, with the NL last winning in 2012. The American League has won eight straight times, including a 5-2 win in 2021 behind an MVP effort from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at Coors Field. Tuesday’s event is the 92nd contest in All-Star history, and it is the first time Dodger Stadium will host the game since 1980.
The first pitch is at 8 p.m. ET in Los Angeles. Caesars Sportsbook lists the National League as a -120 favorite (risk $120 to win $100) on the money line, while the over-under or the total number of runs Vegas thinks will be scored, is 7.5 in the latest AL vs. NL odds. Before you make any 2022 MLB All-Star Game picks, you need to see what SportsLine’s MLB expert Jon Bollman has to say.
Bollman is coming off a monster 2021 MLB season: He went 380-309-1, returning $3,855 to $100 bettors and finishing as SportsLine’s No. 1 expert. That doesn’t include his playoff run picking props, which boosts him over 42 units in profit for the year.
It’s no surprise: In 2018, Bollman, who has a master’s degree in biostatistics, worked in the Toronto Blue Jays’ analytics department, focusing on high-performance sports science and player development. He combines that MLB front-office experience with a deep statistical background to deliver incredible success on MLB picks. Nationals refused to charter Juan Soto a flight to Home Run Derby, so he flew commercial
The contentious relationship between Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals continues to sour.
Less than 24 hours before Soto hoisted the 2022 Home Run Derby trophy at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, the 23-year-old outfielder was waiting in an airport for a commercial flight, all because the Nationals refused to charter a flight for Soto to Los Angeles, days after he rejected a record 15-year, $440 million contract extension.
Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that Soto arrived in Los Angeles early Monday morning following the Nationals’ game against the Atlanta Braves in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. The Braves chartered a plane to Los Angeles for their players. The Nationals did not.
“The Atlanta Braves arrived (in Los Angeles) five hours earlier than Juan Soto did,” Boras told USA TODAY Sports. “You know why? Because their team chartered a plane. Juan Soto had to fly on a commercial flight and wait in an airport for two hours and get here at 1:30 in the morning and have to compete in the Home Run Derby. And that’s something that Major League Baseball did not take care of and that’s something that the Washington Nationals did not take care of.”
