Unless you happened to be a Phan of the Philadelphia Phillies you likely were griping about last night Home Run Derby at same point. Whether it was about the audacity of Netflix’s overblown and promotion-skewed production (because, sure, ESPN never had the star of an upcoming ABC or Disney thingy show up at some point) or the fact that the partisan crowd was, true to form, mercilessly booing six of the eight competitors that weren’t wearing red pinstripes–let alone the glaring absence of the two most magnetic home run hitters, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, if you were inclined to have a take on social media at some point last night, you were likely drawing angry emoji responses calling you an ungrateful bitch. I know I saw more than a smattering of such exchanges while I was multitasking because, honestly, I was more than a tad bored myself.
The fact is that I’m probably a generationally indifferent sort who hasn’t quite embraced the Derby to the extent that younger ones have. I appreciate the pomp and circumstance, and I especially appreciated the outsized totals that previous Derbies have produced with their swing-against-the-clock format and liberal time bonuses. But with the history of ill-timed injuries and ensuing club paranoia–not to mention Netflix’s desire to find still more time to showcase Elle Duncan’s glam–this year’s iteration was reduced to 20 first-round swings and two subsequent rounds of 15 for the survivors–unless, of course, one happened to get a dinger on the very last one. The “magenta ball”, as the branding police at T-Mobile were quick to point out. Up until the very last batter, we did not see that rule in play.
But as THE ATHLETIC’s Chris Branch observed in his PULSE newsletter this morning, when it did rear its head it did so in as timely and storybook a fashion as possible:
(T)he newly scarce number of swings — a rules tweak for this year versus the timed sessions of recent seasons — cranked the intensity. It ended with sheer brilliance:
- Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker is your 2026 Derby champion after hitting a literal walk-off. He homered in his final six swings to beat Kyle Schwarber. It was electric. He needed every allotted swing to win.
- And he won in front of a rowdy crowd rooting against him. This year’s All-Star Game is in Philadelphia, where Schwarber plays full time. I wonder what this new format would’ve brought without the vociferous home crowd, but we’ll worry about that next year. Last night, it worked beautifully.
And in the spirit of old school sports television when people weren’t railing about paying subscriber fees (again, kids, the last time I checked ESPN wasn’t free, either) tale of Schwarber’s agony of defeat as chronicled by RING THE BELL’s Paul Casella was at least equal to Walker’s thrill of victory:
It happened to Kyle Schwarber again. On the verge of winning his first Home Run Derby in front of his hometown fans, Schwarber could do nothing but stand and watch as Cardinals star Jordan Walker unloaded for six consecutive home runs to defeat Schwarber, 12-11, in the final round of the T-Mobile Home Run Derby.
It was reminiscent of the 2018 Home Run Derby, when Schwarber — then with the Cubs — watched now-teammate Bryce Harper — then with the Nationals — unleash a late flourish to steal the crown at Nationals Park. “I go, ‘Dang, got walked off again.’ Got walked off twice now,” Schwarber said with a laugh afterward. “But it was a great time, trust me. I put it all out there.” 
But as Branch reminded, to the victor belongs to the spoils–and in the case of the second-year rising star Walker, those spoils were especially welcomed:
With the win Walker also took home $1 million, which is more than what he’s making this season ($799,400). Pretty sweet. 
Or, as Generation Kvetch would be more apt to put it, “epic”.
Courage…