In all honesty, I wasn't even planning on watching the Home Run Derby this year. As I often do, I was sitting on the couch blindly scrolling through channels on Monday and just so happened to come across ESPN's coverage just before the derby was about to start.
Outside of Bryce Harper, who was fulfilling a promise he made to Washington fans, I had hardly any idea who was even competing. Having nothing better to watch that evening, I decided to stick around and see the thing out and oh boy, I'm really glad I did.
The Derby got a facelift in 2015 when they eliminated the "outs" system and opted for a five minute time limit which was changed to four minutes in 2016. Players are also given 30 seconds of additional time if they hit two home runs 440 feet or greater. Eight players competed in a three-round single elimination format which is definitely faster than the older formats.
I don't follow the MLB nearly as closely as I probably should. Outside of the Cardinals, I know the other teams in the NL Central relatively well and I know which teams we should and shouldn't beat within the National League. The American League, however, is completely foreign territory to me. That really has more to do with how segmented the MLB based on what teams get broadcasted on what networks. Nine different networks, including ESPN occasionally, all get a piece of the pie so it's not exactly easy to watch games that aren't broadcasted on FOXSports Midwest.
With regards to the actual Derby, I was out of my seat yelling at the TV by the second round when Alex Bregman lost to Kyle Schwarber by one home run with a chance to tie with 30 seconds left on the clock. After that, it was nothing but high-octane home run action. It felt like every round was close, often decided by a home run streak near the end of the timer.
Photo courtesy of CBS Sports
The last round alone could have carried the entire Derby and was well worth the wait to see. Schwarber put up a really strong performance throughout. He hit a total of 55 total home runs, second all-time behind Giancarlo Stanton who hit 61 in 2016. 18 home runs from Schwarber was nothing to frown at, especially considering he had to make it through two previous rounds. It looked like Schwarber had the Home Run Derby in the bag, but Bryce Harper being Bryce Harper hit nine home runs in the final 50 seconds of his round and hit the derby-winning home run during his 30-second bonus.
It was a storybook ending to say the least. The hometown hero makes a last round comeback to win the Derby with his dad on the mound giving him the pitches no less. There was, for some reason, a bit of controversy surrounding his win however. There's a rule during the Derby that states hitters must wait until their previously hit ball hits the ground before receiving another pitch. Apparently, many people thought Harper wasn't waiting long enough to hit some of his pitches and accused him of cheating. A couple of things about this:
1. It's the last round of the Home Run Derby, not Game 7 of the World Series.
2. I'm pretty sure it's relatively difficult to spot the exact moment a 9-inch baseball hits the ground from ~400 feet away.
3. I don't really think the words "cheat" and "Home Run Derby" go together. Whether he hit some pitches early or not, he still smacked 19 home runs in four minutes.
While the Home Run Derby really doesn't mean anything for the greater scope of the season, it's still really cool to see the best of the best hitters in the MLB destroy some baseballs. Compared to similar events across sports, such as the Dunk and Shootout Contest, it's definitely less distilled and you can really tell these guys are out there trying their hardest. I can say for a fact that I'll be tuning in to watch next year's Home Run Derby on purpose this time.
