The MLB will be switching up its home run derby format in an effort to make dinger after dinger a bit more interesting than it has been in years past.
Here’s how the competition will change:
1. Each team will have five hitters instead of four.
On its face, this may not make things more interesting but it will allow for more hitters to participate which should help make the event more entertaining for those that love to see more ballplayers hitting home runs.
2. Each hitter gets seven outs instead of ten.
Each swing now means more. This will also help ensure that the added batter doesn’t add much more time to the home run derby either.
3. Home run totals aren’t combined in the first two rounds. This is combined with a new bracket methodology which will ensure that someone from one team will face someone from the other team in the final round of the derby.
The most successful hitter from each team will automatically get a pass from Round 1 to Round 3. The next two most successful members from each team will make Round 2 where they’ll go head-to-head with each other. The least two successful members from each team will be eliminated after Round 1. The winner of Round 2 will face their own teammate in Round 3 to decide who gets to fight for the overall championship.
If there is a uniting theme among all these slight tweaks to the format, it’s to make the derby less repetitive and more competition-based. Head-to-heads in each round after the first ensure more easily digestible drama and the shortening of rounds should mean less repetition. We’ll see how it goes.
