What has long separated Major League Baseball from other sports is that any team donning a Major League uniform is capable of beating any other on any given day which is why it is surprising that the annual All-Star game has been subject to long-term dominance by one league over the other.

If the current trend of dominance continues, the American League (a -140 favorite over the National League) will improve to 9-0-1 over the last 10 games and will once again enjoy home field advantage in the World Series this fall.

As would be expected of such an exhibition, the overall series is nearly even, with the National League holding a slight 40-34 advantage with two ties, but this mark has been achieved with the benefit of significant winning streaks by both sides.

The National League won an incredible 19-of-20 mid-summer classics from 1963 to 1982, but the American League has turned the tables in recent years, winning 14 of the last 17 games, with the three NL wins occurring from 1994-96.

The American League is clearly the better league right now -- in fact much better considering its 154-96 mark in interleague play this season. In addition, the AL has won 29 of the last 41 World Series games, with 11 of its members winning the series to just six from the NL during the most recent span of AL dominance in the All-Star game.

During its 20-year run of All-Star dominance, the Senior Circuit produced a similar 12 World Series winners to just eight in the American League.

While predicting whether the American League will continue its run of dominance or whether the National League will win and start a new trend Tuesday might be too difficult to predict, there are some other trends that could help in MLB All-Star Game betting.

RUN LINE -- Six of the last eight games were decided by more than a single run.

RUN TOTAL -- While pitching wins championships the same can't be said of All-Star games, at least not of late. Like All-Star games in other sports, offense has dominated in recent years. The total for this year's game has been set at 10, a number exceeded in each of the last four games. In fact the lowest total during the previous four games was the 12 runs scored in the AL's 7-5 victory last year. The previous three years 13, 13 and 14 runs were scored. For a three-year period from 1999 to 2001, totals were 5, 9 and 5.