Daily Dingers for Monday (July 13th): Best & Most Fun Home Run Bets - Home Run Derby Edition

While there are technically no MLB games on the schedule tomorrow to pick home run bets from, you know we can’t pass up making some plays for the action that is going down on Monday – it’s right up our alley! For my Daily Dingers for Monday (July 13th): Best & Most Fun Home Run Bets, we’re off to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the 2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby. Let’s get this money!

Daily Dingers for Monday (July 13th): Best & Most Fun Home Run Bets – Home Run Derby Edition

2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby

Start Time: 8:00 PM EST

We won’t have a back-to-back winner of the home run derby this year, as the Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, the reigning champ, is not in the field. ‘The Big Dumper’ is not having much of a season, to my chagrin, as he’s on my fantasy team.

Also, as usual, MLB has tweaked the derby’s format once more. We have an open field in the first round, then the top four performers square off in the semifinals, then the top two in the finals. Each batter has a maximum of 20 swings in the first round, then 15 in each of the next two rounds. If a hitter hits a homer on his last swing, he can keep getting pitches until he fails to homer. You can read about the tiebreakers on your own. Got it?!

Now, for our field:

Kyle Schwarber – Philadelphia Phillies

Bryce Harper – Philadelphia Phillies

Junior Caminero – Tampa Bay Rays

Ben Rice – New York Yankees

Willson Contreras – Boston Red Sox

Munetaka Murakami – Chicago White Sox

Jordan Walker – St. Louis Cardinals

Jac Caglianone – Kansas City Royals

As for my winning plays, I’m going with the chalk, unfortunately, and betting that the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber will win his first home run derby. Several factors point towards Schwarber being crowned the winner, hence the short odds. First off, and probably most importantly, he leads the majors with 33 home runs as of this writing. Also, perhaps just as important, the derby is in his home ballpark, so he’s used to the backdrop he’s hitting against. Plus, he has experience participating in the derby, and he’s due to win one.

Let’s make another play, not quite as chalky. I’m going with the Tampa Bay Rays Junior Caminero to hit the longest home run in the competition. I didn’t do any advanced analytics to come up with this play – Caminero has hit the longest dinger this season (463 feet) among the eight-person field. Keep it simple, stupid.

Best Bet: Kyle Schwarber – Winner (+330), Junior Caminero – Longest Home Run (+400)

2026 Overall Record: 16-63 (20%)
Profit (based on $100/bet): $1,473.00
Return on Investment: 19%