The Major League Baseball Home Run Derby in Cincinnati, which is tonight at 8 o’clock PM Eastern Time, will be interesting because of the new format that was recently put in.
From ESPN.com:
Eight players will compete in a single-elimination bracket (seeding was determined by each player’s number of home runs as of July 7) which will last three rounds.
Instead of a set number of “outs,” each player has five minutes to hit as many home runs as possible.
A running clock will begin as soon as the first pitch is thrown, but will stop for any home run hit during the final minute of the round (the clock will not restart until a non-homer ball lands or the batter swings and misses).
Each player can earn up to 90 extra seconds per round; a player will receive an additional 60 seconds if he hits two 420-foot home runs, and an additional 30 seconds if he hits a 475-foot home run.
It’ll be interesting for sure to see how this plays out, but I for one am not a fan of this by any stretch of the imagination. These aren’t supposed to be one on one battles until the finals. Lets say in one matchup, Albert Pujols and Kris Bryant both hit a massive amount of home runs but Bryant doesn’t hit as many as Pujols, and in another matchup, Manny Machado and Joc Pederson both struggle. One of them (Machado or Pederson) will move on when Bryant would be eliminated. How would that make sense? It doesn’t.
This is all hypothetical of course, but when you think about it, if Bryant has a great round and hits way more home runs than the winner of another matchup, how would you be able to tell him with a straight face that he deserves to be eliminated in the first round? I know they’re trying to appease the fans by making it more interesting in a head to head matchup, but the home run derby is about the best moving on and seeing who can hit the most home runs in total on that particular night.
The first round matchups are:
(1) Albert Pujols LAA vs (8) Kris Bryant CHC
Winner goes against the winner of
(4) Joc Pederson LAD vs (5) Manny Machado BAL
And on the other side of the bracket
(3) Josh Donaldson TOR vs (6) Anthony Rizzo CHC
Winner goes head to head against the winner of
(2) Todd Frazier CIN vs (7) Prince Fielder TEX
