Add The New York Post on Google We’re halfway through the MLB season and due up for a nice break in action to watch baseball events with low stakes and high entertainment value.
The best players in the league are all descending on Philadelphia for the next couple of days with the All-Star Game set for Tuesday night, but the Home Run Derby is really the best part of the festivities.
The derby is pretty straightforward, you know you’re going to see home runs, it’s in the name, but it’s still exciting to watch the best guys in the world send balls into the stands all night.
This year’s field is loaded with deep field of home run hitters: Kyle Schwarber, Junior Caminero, Munetaka Murakami, Jac Caglianone, Jordan Walker, Bryce Harper, Ben Rice, and Willson Contreras.
If you’re looking to bet on which player takes home the hardware and don’t know where to start, we’re here to break down everything you need to know about the 2026 Home Run Derby, including how to find the best sportsbook promotions and offers for tonight’s event.
Schwarber has been the favorite to win the derby since odds opened, which tracks given a few factors. He leads all of MLB in home runs at the break with 32 dingers and he’ll be hitting in his home ball park.
Familiarity with Citizens Bank Park isn’t everything, though. Bryce Harper is also in this field and he has the third longest odds to take home the hardware.
This year’s derby will look different from the most recent iteration. There are no more timed rounds for hitters this year. Instead, batters will get a set number of swings. In the first round, each batter gets 20 swings and that dips down to 15 in Round 2 and the final.
Every swing counts toward that number regardless if the swing produces a home run, but if a player homers on his final swing, he can keep going until he doesn’t knock one over the wall.
The four highest home run totals move to the second round and longest home run distance serves as the tiebreaker in Round 1. If there is a tie in the later rounds, each player gets a three swing swing-off to pull ahead.
The simplest way to bet on the derby is to bet an outright winner, which are the odds in the table above. If you’re new to betting, those odds are like a moneyline bet for a game — a $10 bet on Schwarber at +290 odds, for example, would win a bettor $29, plus they get their $10 stake back.
But there are various other ways to get in on the action. You can bet on the winner based on the league they play in. The American League has five participants and has -145 odds, while the National League has three participants and +120 odds.
Oddsmakers are also offering bettors the option to bet on a number of first-round markets. You can wager on which player hits the most homers in the opening round, the total combined home runs in Round 1 (Over/Under 74.5), and the total home runs by each individual player in the first round.
They even allow bettors to get granular and bet home run distances (longest home run Over/Under 484.5 feet) and which player will have the highest Exit Velocity.
If you’re looking for the best sportsbook promo offers for the derby, you can find each of them right here.
Sportsbooks are presenting new users with various welcome bonus offers if they sign up for account.
Just click the link on the offers below to get started.
The growing options of prediction markets also provide additional opportunities to place trades on the Derby.
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
