Home Run Derby odds: Can anyone challenge favored Ohtani?

The Home Run Derby is already one of the most exciting events to bet each year. Now that it's at Coors Field? Pull out your wallets.

This year's field is full of stars, led by home run leader Shohei Ohtani, defending champion Pete Alonso, and hometown favorite Trevor Story. Here are the odds to win the derby on Monday and how to watch it, along with our favorite value bets on the board:

How to watch

• What: Home Run Derby
• When: Monday, July 12 at 8 p.m. ET
• Where: Coors Field (Denver, Colorado)
• TV: ESPN and ESPN2 (U.S.), Sportsnet (Canada)
• Stream: fuboTV (U.S.), Sportsnet GO (Canada)

Odds to win Home Run Derby

Safe choice

Shohei Ohtani (+250)

The story of this season - other than the sticky stuff and injuries - has been Ohtani, the two-way superstar and MLB leader in home runs (33) entering the derby. The Angels slugger is also the runaway leader in barrels (53), and he's posted top-five marks in average exit velocity (93.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (56.9%).

Ohtani also has two distinct advantages based on the derby rules. In the final 30 seconds of each round, every home run hit at least 475 feet adds another 30 seconds to a player's clock. Ohtani is the only slugger in this contest to hit a home run of at least 470 feet this season, and he's sure to hit a few more in his first trip to Coors Field.

He can also mash anything thrown his way. In a contest dictated by a running clock and not by the number of swings, batters are incentivized to swing at everything - even pitches way off the mark. Ohtani can crush a meatball like anyone else, but some of his most impressive home runs this year have come off pitches well out of the zone, so he should be able to maximize his time in what's essentially glorified batting practice.

Dark horse

Trevor Story (+600)

While Ohtani leads the field in most slugging metrics, he ranks second in average home run distance (417 feet) behind Story (419). The Rockies star clearly benefits from playing half his games in Colorado, but he also knows how to get the most out of MLB's most home run-friendly park, where he's spent hundreds of hours in batting practice.

We've seen the hometown favorite win before. Bryce Harper overcame a slow start to win the 2018 derby in Washington, and Todd Frazier surprised in front of the Cincinnati faithful in 2015. Story is sure to get a raucous reception from a crowd that knows it could be the All-Star shortstop's final year in Colorado, and he's got the power to turn that momentum into a win.

Long shot

Salvador Perez (+800)

If you're overlooking Perez because of his age and relative lack of star power, think again. The Royals catcher ranks second in the majors in balls hit at least 95 mph (143) and only Ohtani has a higher average exit velocity than him (93 mph) among this group.

Perez doesn't face any easy road to the finals, matching up with Alonso in the first round and the winner of Ohtani vs. Juan Soto in the second round. If he can dial up the power we've seen during the first half of the season, though, he'll reward those who buy at long odds.

Best bet

Shohei Ohtani (+250)

Only two of the last 10 favorites have won the derby, which is reflective of the high-level talent across the board and the volatility of hitting home runs on a timer. Yet every time I start to talk myself into betting a long shot here, I think of Ohtani sending it into the upper deck at T-Mobile Park and imagine him hitting those same moonshots in the thin air of Denver.

Story has a manageable path to the final round, and Perez is probably undervalued as a No. 4 seed, but the stage is set for Ohtani to wow us once again. Until he stops doing the unthinkable on a nightly basis, I'll expect him to win this, too.

C Jackson Cowart is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on Twitter (@CJacksonCowart) or email him at cjackson.cowart@thescore.com.