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Morning Coffee: Henderson a popular bet to win MLB Home Run Derby at FanDuel
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The Summer of Soccer on TSN was one of the most highly anticipated events on the 2024 sports calendar.
Euro 2024 and the Copa America did more than just meet expectations – it surpassed them in nearly every way.
It’s a morning of celebration in Spain after their men’s national team secured its fourth Euro title with a 2-1 win over England, breaking a tie with Germany for the most all-time.
Four teams – England, France, Germany, Portugal - had shorter odds to win Euro 2024 at FanDuel.
Spain set a Euro record with 15 goals and became the first European team to go 7-0-0 at a major tournament.
That championship victory came just hours after Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Wimbledon crown with a win over Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final.
Alcaraz, who was the second choice to win the men’s title pre-tournament at FanDuel behind the favourite Jannik Sinner, improved to 4-0 in major finals in his career.
He joined Roger Federer as the only male players in the Open Era to win each of their first four career major final appearances.
A FanDuel parlay with Spain to win the Euro 2024 Final and Alcaraz to win the Wimbledon Final paid +184.
Then late last night, Argentina joined Spain as the only teams in history to win a FIFA World Cup between consecutive major continental tournament titles.
After winning the 2021 Copa and the 2022 World Cup, Argentina secured its third major title in a row with a 1-0 win over Colombia in the Copa America Final.
Argentina went wire-to-wire as the pre-tournament favourite at FanDuel.
With the Summer of Soccer on TSN now in the books, we’re set for one of the quieter stretches on the sports calendar as the focus shifts to The Open Championship and Week 7 in the CFL.
Additionally, the MLB All-Star festivities are underway in Arlington, Texas, with the annual MLB Home Run Derby set to steal the spotlight tonight.
While I’m not one to take the spectacle too seriously, it’s always fun to sprinkle on the contest.
I’ve already locked in two wagers on the Home Run Derby champion at FanDuel.
This is the Morning Coffee for Monday July 15th, 2024.
Henderson A Popular Bet To Win MLB Home Run Derby At FanDuel
It’s been nearly four months since MLB Opening Day.
While Paul Skenes, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have given us plenty to talk about through the first half of the season, the focus will shift to the lighter side of baseball for the next 48 hours.
Eight of the best hitters in baseball are set to compete in the MLB Home Run Derby tonight at 8 PM ET.
Two-time Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso is the betting favourite at +300 at FanDuel.
Alonso will be making his fifth career Home Run Derby appearance tonight – tied for the sixth-most all-time.
He’s one win shy of matching Ken Griffey Jr.’s all-time wins record.
In addition to being the betting favourite for tonight’s event, the veteran slugger is also the second-most popular pick to win the Home Run Derby in terms of both bet percentage and bet handle at FanDuel.
The most popular pick to win the Home Run Derby is Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
Henderson accounts for 23 per cent of the bets and 25 per cent of the handle at FanDuel.
The 23-year-old has already matched his career-high with 28 home runs this season.
Henderson will have the entire second half to add to that total.
Tonight, he’ll attempt to join Cal Ripken Jr. and Miguel Tejada as the third player in Orioles franchise history to win a Home Run Derby.
Considering he accounts for a quarter of the betting handle on tonight’s event, it won’t just be baseball fans in Baltimore cheering on Henderson tonight.
Interestingly, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is tied for the fewest number of bets to win the Home Run Derby but ranks third in terms of the overall stakes.
Some bettors will wager on their favourite player or the representative of their favourite team to win the Home Run Derby.
Others will put in the work to handicap the field in an attempt to find a winner.
Then there is the group of bettors that will take a flyer on a long shot to win the event.
There are three contestants with longer than 10-to-1 odds to win tonight’s Home Run Derby.
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez is +1200.
Philadelphia Phllies slugger Alec Bohm has the longest odds of any player in the field at +2100.
Then there is the veteran Cleveland Guardians slugger Jose Ramirez at +1600.
Interestingly, Ramirez is tied with Alonso as the second-most popular pick by bet percentage at FanDuel but ranks just fourth by handle.
Ramirez is the most popular pick to win the Home Run Derby among the trio of contenders with longer than 10-to-1 odds.
No Cleveland player has ever won the Home Run Derby.
Ramirez, who will be making his second Home Run Derby appearance tonight, lost to the eventual champion Juan Soto in 2002.
However, it’s worth noting that he was dealing with a thumb injury that eventually required season-ending surgery.
Ramirez is healthy again and he currently ranks sixth in the majors with 23 home runs this season.
As I highlighted above, I’m not one to take tonight’s spectacle too seriously.
At the same time, it’s always fun to sprinkle on the MLB Home Run Derby.
I’ll take a flyer on the long shot to win it in Ramirez at +1600 and ride with the most popular pick at FanDuel with Henderson at +440.
Hopefully, one of those two sluggers will deliver and give me a winner for the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby.