The stage is set and the eight participants have been announced for the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby at Coors Field.

After not having an all-star game or a home run derby last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Coors Field will look to have an extra jolt of energy inside the stadium with the game and derby back in place this year.

The potential for this to be one of the best home run derby's ever seems like a lofty expectation but, there are valid reasons to believe it could be just that.

Here are three reasons why this could be the best MLB Home Run Derby yet.

Sitting 5,200 feet above sea level, the balls always fly at Coors Field

Coors Field has always been known as a “hitter's park.” To be a pitcher at Coors Field can be a nightmare scenario in a lot of cases as the ball travels a lot easier at such high elevation. Every year, Coors Field ranks in the top tier of stadiums that allow the most home runs in MLB and having the MLB Home Run Derby take place in Denver will be a hitters paradise this season.

It's the absolute perfect stadium for a home run derby to take place at given how the ball carries, despite the stadium design trying to limit it. Coors Field has the largest outfield of any MLB stadium and despite it being 390 feet to the gap in left center and 375 feet in right center, the park still yields more home runs year in and year out than most stadiums.

The ball will fly early and it will fly often in the MLB Home Run Derby this year and the biggest reason for that is the location of the stadium and the thin air in Denver, Colorado.

One of the faces of baseball, Shohei Ohtani, will be participating

Shohei Ohtani has taken the league by storm this year. He will be representing the American League not only as a designated hitter in the MLB All-Star Game, but as a starting pitcher as well.

As his manger Joe Maddon put it (via the Los Angeles Times), baseball hasn't seen a player like Ohtani, who's dominating on the mound and at the plate, since Babe Ruth.

“We all romanticize what it would have been like to watch Babe Ruth play … Now we're living it. So don't underestimate what we're seeing…We always romanticize the past and sometimes you miss what's going on right in front of your very eyes. I've been saying that all camp to the guys, ‘Don't miss it.' Because when you have to compare him to somebody that existed about 100 years ago, that's pretty impressive.”

While it may sound crazy to some and a bit exaggerated, who else can you compare Ohtani to given what he has done so far this year?

He leads all of baseball with 32 home runs this year and it's always great to have the home run leader at the MLB Home Run Derby. He's hit one moon shot after another and the impressive thing from Ohtani is that he's done it pulling the ball and he's done it going to the opposite field.

On the mound he's been dominant as well, pitching to a 4-1 record with an ERA of 3.49 for the Los Angeles Angels.

Arguably the biggest name in baseball right now and the current home run leader, Shohei Ohtani hitting bombs at Coors Field will have everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.

Pete Alonso will defend his title after one of the best derby's ever in 2019

The 2019 MLB Home Run Derby was on of the best ever in recent memory. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. broke Josh Hamilton's record in 2008 for most home runs in a round, when he clubbed 29 to break Hamilton's record of 28.

Guerrero Jr. would go on to win a second-round, sudden death swing off against Joc Pederson to advance to the finals before losing on a walk-off to Pete Alonso.

Now, Alonso is back to defend his crown after he provided plenty of theater himself in the 2019 MLB Home Run Derby.

Alonso edged out both Carlos Santana and Ronald Acuna Jr. by one home run in the first two rounds before beating Guerrero Jr. via a walk-off bomb to clinch the derby two years ago. It never hurts to have the most recent winner who provided plenty of nail-biters comeback the next time around.

This MLB Home Run Derby in 2021 will now feature the current home run leader this year (Ohtani), the defending champion of the event (Alonso) and it will be played at a park where the ball travels better than anywhere (Coors Field). This year the derby has the chance to become one of the best ever.