The National League will try to end a three-game winning streak for the American League when they square off Tuesday in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game at San Diego’s Petco Park.
The NL is currently set as a -120 favorite (bet $120 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, with Johnny Cueto (13-1, 2.47 ERA) of the San Francisco Giants getting the starting nod against the AL’s Chris Sale (14-3, 3.38) of the Chicago White Sox.
Cueto has proved to be an outstanding offseason addition for the NL West-leading Giants (57-33), who have the best record in the league and are just behind the Chicago Cubs on the odds to win the World Series, according to GambleOnline.co.
Cueto joined San Francisco after helping lead the Kansas City Royals to the World Series title last year, giving the the Giants arguably the best one-two punch in baseball behind ace Madison Bumgarner (10-4, 1.94 ERA).
Meanwhile, Sale leads all of baseball in wins as the ace for the White Sox (45-43), who were the top team in the AL for the first month of the season before coming back down to earth in the middle of May. He ranks third in the league in strikeouts with 123 and 11th in ERA.
Sale has never won the Cy Young Award, finishing a career-best third in 2014, but he will likely have some stiff competition from others who are pitching for more competitive teams.
Last year, the AL doubled up the NL 6-3 at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park behind winning pitcher David Price and MVP Mike Trout, who became the first player in 38 years to lead off the game with a homer.
The Royals ended up using the home-field advantage earned from that victory to defeat the New York Mets in the World Series.
The NL squad will be without a couple of top pitchers, as Bumgarner nearly no-hit the Arizona Diamondbacks (38-52) on Sunday night and will be replaced by Bartolo Colon of the Mets (47-41) as a result. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers will also miss the game because of a back injury after six previous appearances.
For the AL, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox (49-38) will make his 10th and final appearance in the Midsummer Classic before retiring at the end of this season.
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