MLB might have hit it out of the park with one of its newest rule changes.
Yeah, pun intended.
With Tuesday’s 2025 MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park tied 6-6 after nine innings, the league finally was unable to unveil its swing-off tiebreaker format, which was implemented in 2022 for All-Star Games that were tied after nine innings.
The concept is simple: Both the National and American League managers select three players (and one alternate) to participate in a mini home-run-derby-style competition where each hitter gets three swings, with the team collecting the most home runs after three rounds winning the swing-off and, in turn, the All-Star Game.
On Tuesday night, it was the National League, led by the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso and Miami Marlins’ Kyle Stowers, who bested the American League lineup of the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, Seattle Mariners’ Randy Arozarena and Tampa Bay Rays’ Jonathan Aranda 4-3 to win the competition.
Giants starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Logan Webb, two of San Francisco’s three representatives, including reliever Randy Rodriguez, were among a handful of players who were caught off guard by the new rule, and spoke to reporters after the game about what unfolded in the National League’s dugout during the ninth inning. (h/t The San Francisco Standard’s John Shea)
“[Los Angeles Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts comes down and goes, ‘Guys, you won’t believe this. If the game ends in a tie, I pre-selected three guys for a Home Run Derby. That’s how we’re going to finish it,’ ” Ray said.
“Nobody knew. We were all like, ‘Is this really how all this is going to happen?’ ”
“I honestly had no clue this was a thing,” Webb added. “We heard who was going to do it, and I was super excited to see Stowers in it, and then they said Schwarber and Pete, and I’m like, ‘All right we’re going to win.’ ”
And that’s exactly what the National League did, thanks to Schwarber hitting all three of his pitches over the wall for home runs.
“I told Scharber afterward, ‘Dude, you’re just cool, you’re just a cool dude,’ ” Webb shared.
The format, while it elicited mixed reactions online, was an overwhelming success in the eyes of Webb and other MLB players.
“I have a group text with other players around baseball,” Webb said, “and they said we should never play an extra-inning game again. We should always end games just like that. It should be just straight Home Run Derby.”
“A perfect way to end this All-Star Game,” Webb said.
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