Marking the half-way mark of the baseball season, this year’s Monster MLB All-Star Game is being played on July 15 at Yankee Stadium in New York. Although it has little to do with the latest MLB power rankings, it is worth mentioning for a couple of reasons: the No. 1 team in the nation only has two players headed to the All-Star Game (the Tampa Bay Rays have won 11 of 13 games and picked up series sweeps over the Anaheim Angels, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox (twice), Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals this season); and it’s also a good reminder of who’s leading the pack heading down the stretch.

Here are your MLB Power Rankings:

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Anaheim Angels
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Chicago White Sox
6. St. Louis Cardinals
7. Philadelphia Phillies
8. Minnesota Twins
9. Milwaukee Brewers
10. Oakland Athletics
11. New York Yankees
12. Florida Marlins
13. Texas Rangers
14. Baltimore Orioles
15. Detroit Tigers
16. Arizona Diamondbacks
17. Los Angeles Dodgers
18. New York Mets
19. Toronto Blue Jays
20. Cincinnati Reds
21. Atlanta Braves
22. Houston Astros
23. Pittsburgh Pirates
24. San Francisco Giants
25. Kansas City Royals
26. Colorado Rockies
27. Cleveland Indians
28. Seattle Mariners
29. San Diego Padres
30. Washington Nationals

Venus Williams has the edge over little sister Serena.

It’s been five years since we last saw the Williams sisters face off in the finals of a major tennis tournament. The Wimbledon odds say it’s time for a rematch. We still have the semifinals to play, but Serena Williams is the favorite on the championship futures market at 11-10, edging out older sister Venus at 6-5.

Serena overtook Venus in the WTA pecking order starting in 2002 with a win at the French Open finals, the first of five in a row for Serena at grand slam events. These weren’t always the best displays of tennis; the two sisters were sometimes accused of fixing their own matches, but the simpler cause was a lack of killer instinct.

Now that both players have gotten on a bit in tennis terms (Venus is 28, Serena 26), I’ll go with the elder stateswoman. Her track record on grass is superb; on any other surface, Serena’s baseline game would give her the advantage.

Curses just ain’t what they used to be. The Boston Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series, and the Chicago White Sox broke an 88-year streak of futility by going all the way in 2005.

That leaves Chicago’s neighbors to the north. The Cubs are trying to win their first championship since 100 years ago, when Tinker to Evers to Chance and Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown led the Cubbies to glory. The 2008 model is the best team in baseball heading toward the midway mark with a record of 48-29 at press time.

The Red Sox aren’t too shabby themselves at 48-32, which opens up the possibility of a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. The last one was 1918, which Boston won 4-2 in unusual circumstances. The betting market favors the Red Sox in the potential rematch; Boston is the 7-2 favorite to win this year’s Fall Classic, with the Cubs a close second at 4-1.

The folks at Major League Baseball keep coming up with new ways to separate your money from your wallet. But at least they don’t shoehorn fans into cookie-cutter stadiums anymore. These are my personal Top 10 favorite ballparks in the majors.

Fenway Park: Opened in 1912, wisely renovated instead of demolished.
Progressive Field:The former Jacobs Field is the best of the new parks.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards: Started the “retro” movement in 1992.
Safeco Field: Try the Ichiroll. It’s tasty, and it’ll distract you from how bad the M’s are.
AT&T Park: McCovey Cove and a giant glove. But where’s Rusty?
Miller Park: Hard to give Bud Selig credit for anything, but here you go.
PNC Park: The Pirates will eventually be worthy of their ballpark.
Wrigley Field: But not in April.
Yankee Stadium: One more year before the Yankees move.
Rogers Centre: Sometimes the best show isn’t on the diamond.

It took them 21 years but they finally did it. On Tuesday night the Boston Celtics put away the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 to win the 2008 NBA Championship. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett each scored a game-high 26 points and Rajon Rondo netted another 20 points, creating one of the biggest gaps (or margin of victory) in NBA Finals history. Paul Pierce, who was instrumental throughout the series and averaged a cool 21.8 points per game, was named Finals MVP.

“Rondo was the star,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “He was the guy out there that made the plays, got the steals, pushed their offense into high drive and created havoc for us.”

The victory parade back in Boston is slated to start at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Celtics players, coaching staff and family will board Duck boats, and head up Staniford Street. The route will continue, turning left onto Cambridge Street, then onto Tremont, before turning right onto Boylston Street and ending at Copley Square.

“We are proud of this team and the hard work and dedication it took to bring the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy back to Boston,” said Mayor Thomas Menino, in a statement. “We love celebrating championships, keep ‘em coming.”

Currently, the Boston Celtics are the 7/2 favorites to win the 2009 NBA Championship.

If there was any doubt as to whether or not Tiger Woods was ready to play in the US Open, the golf phenom made everyone a believer on Sunday when he sunk a 12-foot birdie on the 18th hole to finish the tournament tied for first. But the bigger story coming out of San Diego over the weekend belonged to Rocco Mediate, who finds himself in an 18-hole playoff situation on Monday against Woods.

“It’s just the most amazing display of athletic, mental power that there is, there ever was,” said Mediate of Tiger Woods’ birdie putt. “Look at him. He hasn’t played in 10 weeks. There’s no surprise to me, but he hasn’t played for 10 weeks! And he comes here. So I’m not surprised. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.”

Woods currently leads Mediate by one shot as the two head down the back nine at the US Open Torrey Pines in San Diego.

What if you could bet on two of the top soccer teams in the world at bargain prices? Italy, the reigning World Cup champions, were 10-1 at press time to win Euro 2008. The team they beat at the final, France, is even cheaper at 12-1.

Of course, there’s a catch. These two teams play in Group C (the Group of Death) along with Holland and Romania. Italy’s chances of survival plummeted with a 3-0 opening loss to the Oranje. France didn’t do themselves any favors, either, drawing Romania 0-0.

Unless the Romanians (33-1) pull off a monumental upset, one or both of Italy and France will move on to the quarterfinal round. Italy should be able to gain three points on Friday versus Romania; however, beating the Dutch would leave France in the driver’s seat with one more point and (probably) a better goal differential than the Azzurri. You could do worse than buy both at these prices.

Tiger’s got one good knee and Lefty’s got home course advantage. Who are you betting on to win the US Open Championship?

Under normal circumstances a vast majority of betting action would be wagered on Tiger Woods to win the US Open. But these are not normal circumstances. Having just come out of knee surgery, Woods admits he’s not entirely sure how he’ll play this weekend at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.

“I haven’t played in a while…competitively since the Masters,” Woods told reporters at a press conference held on Tuesday. “So getting out there and getting into the flow, and dealing with the adrenaline, dealing with the juices flying…all these different things that a lot of guys have been dealing with for a little bit and I haven’t. I’m excited about it.”

Nevertheless, Woods is favored at 5/2 odds to win the 2008 US Open Championship, while Phil Mickelson is at 7/1 odds to win. Bettors may find some value in those (Mickelson) odds as Lefty has won at Torrey Pines three times before, he practices there all the time — and he’s a fan favorite at Torrey Pines.

Get your US Open odds here. And read the experts’ picks on who they think will win the US Open here.

Brazil is magnificent. So is Argentina. But if you want the best soccer tournament in the world outside of the World Cup itself, you want the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship – Euro 2008 for short.

Austria and Switzerland are co-hosting this year’s event, which conveniently gets both countries automatic bids into the 16-team tournament. Germany are the favorites at 4-1, followed closely by a pack of four powerful teams; Spain get the nod as second favorites at 11-2.

Spain’s history in international soccer is not very good. La Furia have made it to the Euro tournament seven times, but have only their 1964 victory to show for it. This year’s squad made it through the qualifying stages by winning Group F, giving up just one goal in six games at home. Theirs is an absolutely beautiful brand of soccer, but with only five players outside of La Liga, how prepared are the Spaniards for Europe’s best?

Big Brown is the best contender to win the Triple Crown in 30 years. Not since Affirmed did it in 1978 has there been so much hope and hype that it will happen. Big Brown won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes) in impressive fashion, leaving all opponents in the dust coming out of the final turn.

The Belmont Stakes is the longest jewel in the Triple Crown, and the extra distance will test Big Brown against horses bred for longer distances. He will have his work cut out for him going up against late bloomer and undefeated Casino Drive. Big Brown currently sits as a heavy favorite with odds of 2/7 to win.

Despite all that pressure and heavy expectations, Big Brown looks ready to join the immortals in the industry of horse racing on June 7 when he’s let loose by Kent Desormeaux and allowed to run.