The 2026 MLB Home Run Derby is nearly here.
The most fun Monday of the MLB season comes to Philadelphia with some major changes after a decade of a frenetic, clock-based system. The result will be far fewer homers, but every swing will matter more.
Here’s everything else you need to know ahead of the event.
When and where is the 2026 Home Run Derby?
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Date: July 13
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
How can I watch the 2026 Home Run Derby?
Netflix will be streaming the Derby as part of the company’s limited foray into MLB, which included an Opening Night game and will include the Field of Dreams game in Iowa on Aug. 13.
What are the new Derby rules?
After years of a time-based Home Run Derby, in which players could swing at as many pitches as they could get on a set clock, MLB has decided to once again change the rules. This year’s Derby will strongly resemble the old format.
The competition will consist of three rounds, with an open first round before head-to-head semifinals and finals between the top four performers from the first round.
Instead of the clock, hitters will have a limited number of swings: 20 in the first round and 15 in the knockout rounds. There is no bonus time, but if a player homers on his final swing, he can keep swinging until he fails to homer. The tiebreakers will be longest home run distance in the first round and three-swing swing-offs in the knockout rounds.
The difference between this system and the old days is that the pre-2015 Derbies were based on “outs,” meaning players could keep swinging as long as balls were leaving the yard. This year’s swings system mandates that a player is done after 20 swings in the first round, whether he hits 20 homers or zero.
Why did they change the Derby rules?
In a word: fatigue.
The clock-based system was fun and helped revive one of the most fun events of the All-Star break. However, it was disorienting at times and often turned into an endurance competition more than anything else. Player fatigue was often notable during the later rounds of recent Derbies, and the time accounting could get overly complicated (30 seconds of bonus time if you hit two homers more than 440 feet!).
As a result, MLB is going back to a system in which each swing matters more. There were definitely drawbacks to that system as well — most notably, that players could be selective with pitches to a fault — so we’ll see how it works out.
A side effect is that it’ll likely be impossible to break nearly any Derby record unless the league changes the rules again. Julio Rodríguez holds the record for homers in a single round, with 41. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the most in a single Derby, with 91. Pete Alonso has the most Derby homers in a career, with 207.
Even if a player homered on every swing for the next four Derbies, he’d still be seven short of Alonso’s mark, barring a final-swing homer hot streak.
What’s the prize for the 2026 Home Run Derby?
We don’t know yet, but it was a $2.5 million prize pool last year, with $1 million going to the champion and $750,000 to the runner-up.
How did last year’s Derby go?
Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh became the first catcher to win a Home Run Derby, defeating Tampa Bay Rays slugger Junior Caminero in the final. Raleigh became the second Mariner to win the event, joining three-time champion Ken Griffey Jr., and the first switch-hitter to win it outright (Ruben Sierra shared the title in 1998).
Raleigh had his father, Todd, pitching to him and his brother, Todd Jr., catching, which turned the event into a memorable family outing.
Raleigh had an MLB-best 38 homers at the All-Star break last year. Rather than ruining his swing in the Derby, he went on to become the seventh player to join the 60-homer club and led the Mariners all the way to Game 7 of the ALCS.
Who is in the 2026 Home Run Derby field?
So far, only one player has been confirmed to be taking part. That’s 2025 runner-up Junior Caminero.
We’ll continue adding the field here as it comes in.
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