How Philly fans and Jordan Walker’s play against Kyle Schwarber made the new Home Run Derby format work

PHILADELPHIA — I was ready to be angry. Hell, I was angry. I wrote a whole column about how angry I was at myself regarding the Home Run Derby format change. I still prefer a watch, but Monday night’s event in Philadelphia was a good one. Good value for them.

Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber and the Citizens Bank Park crowd came alive and stole the show late, making for an incredibly entertaining night before Cardinals star Jordan Walker made an improbable recent surge to win it. This Derby was a sensational success.

Potential problems with this Home Run Derby format

On the downside, a new solution to a problem that doesn’t exist is never a good idea. You know the old saying, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it?” Yes, the Home Run Derby is not broken. It was fun since the clock struck on it. The players and the crowd making the event fun doesn’t mean that a change in format was necessary.

You see, Derby used to have trouble. In 2014, it was the key. Hitters were taking too many pitches, either because they wanted a little more rest in the batter’s box or because they were more selective about the pitches they saw — it was actually a combination of the two. Then, Major League Baseball, before the 2015 Midsummer Classic in Cincinnati, decided to fix the problem. The league has put a clock on the Home Run Derby, building urgency and preventing players from getting on the field. It was a glorious recovery from a bitter experience.

Now, here in 2026, the format of the event was changed. Too bad, in my opinion.

Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as noticeable as the 2014 version, and there were plenty of fun moments early on. The Home Run Derby. Yes there will be good times. Schwarber said after the event that this new format “gives us a little breathing room” and allows players to “go a little slower.” That’s right. If someone said something along the lines of, “there’s no need to kill these guys for our fun at a meaningless event,” I wouldn’t have much of an objection to that.

In addition, stadium occupancy was not as big a problem as it was in the 2011-14 Derbies. Fields were taken, but not too much. Willson Contreras took a lot of pitches in the second round, but he was against a Phillies player, and the crowd booed every time he didn’t swing. That part was actually funny. This was repeated in the final round when Walker scored. We will be back for this fun. The last two contests — Schwarber vs. Contreras and Schwarber vs. Walker — saved an event that looked like it couldn’t be disappointed.

Overall the event did not drag. It lasted about two and a half hours. In the past few years, as the league has continued to add overtime bonuses, the Derby may have gone much longer. There is a shelf life for watching bomb after bomb and once you hit the three hour mark, you start to lose the crowd power a little bit. Even on Monday night in Philadelphia, the Junior Caminero and Walker parts of the second round were met with genuine yawns from the crowd, and these are two of the most exciting, young sluggers in the game. There’s only so long you can be happy watching the same thing over and over again.

The place felt sleepy.

How the Philly crowd helped save the night

Enter Schwarber and the Philly Faithful.

Schwarber vs. The Contreras bout in Round 2 was great theater, and the crowd was a big reason why. Sure, they were cheering for Schwarber a lot, but Contreras’ chance was the best of the night. The crowd booed the whole time he was up, really loud, until he hit a home run (they were quiet) or he turned around and didn’t hit a homer (big bang). It was the most fun I’ve had with a Home Run Derby crowd since Todd Frazier left things in Cincinnati the first year on the clock.

Then came the finals, and the crowds were endless. It was absolutely electric throughout Schwarber’s innings (and the MLB homer leader hitting 11 home runs in 15 swings before finally failing in his 16th swing had a lot to do with it). They didn’t have time to settle down. He just kept delivering ball after ball every night.

“Philly, I just want to say thank you guys for supporting me,” Schwarber said afterward. “You guys were amazing. I was trying to represent you the best I could. You guys showed it tonight. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow at the All-Star game.”

Then it was Walker’s turn and, again, the crowd was incredibly loud with boos, quiet during the homers and loud again during his misses. It was high-class entertainment. The crowd went wild when Walker hit six home runs in his last six swings to steal the win from Schwarber.

“My thought was ‘Philly is brutal,’ honestly,” Walker said with a smile as he held a press conference with the trophy sitting in front of him. “But I think it’s special because they love their players. That’s what you want in your home — where you play. I’ve never heard people so excited about Schwarber and (Bryce) Harper. And those guys did their thing, for sure. But, you know, I can’t hate them because those are their guys.”

Contreras also loved the scene. “I feel like I won,” he said (via the Boston Globe).

Should the clock go back?

We also had the opportunity to enjoy the glory of an amazing home run. Without a clock, pitchers are able to allow less time between pitches and batters are able to watch their shots fly up the ladder. Everyone in the crowd — and at home — can watch the perfect trajectory of the balls in the air without worrying about missing the next shot. We didn’t need to rely too much on the scoreboard and were able to easily calculate the number of home runs versus the number of swings left.

It felt a lot less, too.

But what do you know? I liked how busy the watch was. It was a feature for me, not a bug. As a human product, I missed the drama of the watch. This is a once-a-year event with some of the world’s biggest hitters. I loved that the balls flew around the yard at speeds that most people couldn’t keep up with. I loved being able to look at the scoreboard and think, “oh wow, he’s already at 13?” I like to look back and forth between the fly ball and the clock and try to figure out how many more home runs the hitter can squeeze in there.

Now, there was some urgency at the end of the first round, involving both Phillies. Schwarber needed a late surge to get past Munetaka Murakami, and Bryce Harper raced past his teammate for the fourth and final spot. It was fun. The finale when Walker came back to knock out Schwarber with four straight home runs was also amazing.

I suddenly found myself crying for the clock. Even in the rounds of Contreras and Walker, when they faced Schwarber, having a clock wouldn’t take away from the fun the crowd was having. It was still a funny mix of boos and cheers.

Not everyone will agree with me. Many people were happy with the change of format and were happy to return to the leisurely view of bombs leaving the yard in time before the next pitch.

Me? Return the clock and all the mess with it. I really enjoyed Monday night; I just missed the clock. But man, the Philly crowd fueled by Schwarber’s run to the finals saved things before Walker blew the air out of the place.