Death, taxes, and sports leagues tinkering with their All-Star festivities. Major League Baseball puts on arguably the most compelling of the four major sports’ exhibition games, getting full participation on both sides from its players, but they’re no stranger to messing with the format of both the game itself and the Home Run Derby that has become synonymous with the break. This year brings in a new format after a decade of the Derby using a timer system, and the Yankees have a rooting interest
in seeing this year’s format start off with a bang — their top player this season will be one of the contestants.
Ben Rice had the makings of an emerging star last season, but the hits just didn’t fall in the right places for him to truly emerge in 2025. Fast forward a year and he’s taken the reins of an offense that has looked outright lost at times without their captain Aaron Judge on the field, leading the team with 29 home runs in 91 games played. Making the All-Star team for the first time in his career, he’ll take on the challenge hoping to join Judge, Robinson Canó, Jason Giambi, and Tino Martinez as Derby champions wearing pinstripes. It’ll also mark back-to-back years with a Bomber in the Derby as Jazz Chisholm Jr. was in last year’s contest, though hopefully Rice has a better showing than Jazz did getting eliminated at the bottom of the standings.
The field this year outside of Rice has the following sluggers competing:
- Jac Caglianone (Royals) — 15 home runs in 90 games played
- Junior Caminero (Rays) — 28 home runs in 94 games played
- Willson Contreras (Red Sox) — 20 home runs in 88 games played
- Bryce Harper (Phillies) — 20 home runs in 97 games played
- Munetaka Murakami (White Sox) — 20 home runs in 60 games played
- Kyle Schwarber (Phillies) — 32 home runs in 93 games played
- Jordan Walker (Cardinals) — 22 home runs in 93 games played
That’s a stacked roster, and the crowd will surely be behind the two hometown favorites, but Rice has a solid chance of turning some heads himself. If you’re planning on cheering him on, here’s how to follow the action.
How to watch
Home Run Derby
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
Streaming: Netflix
Venue: Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia (PA)
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Home Run Derby Rules
As mentioned at the start, we’ve got a new format for this year’s Derby. Gone is the timer-based system where hitters were hacking as often as they could to pump out dingers before the clock expired, and in is a swing-based rule set. The first round is an open field where the contestants will set the stage, getting 20 swings to do as much damage as they can. Regardless of whether they connect for a bomb or swing and miss, if they offer their swing will be used up. The only exception is on their final swing, where if the batter hits a home run they will be allowed to keep swinging until they fail to produce another homer.
Once all the contestants have gone, the four batters with the lowest totals will be eliminated (ties will be broken by the longest home run hit in the first round). The four remaining batters will then set up a bracket: the batter with the most homers facing off against the batter with the least, and the two in-between facing each other. From here on out the batters will have 15 swings to best their opponent, and if they are tied at the end they’ll go through a series of three-swing swing-offs until someone emerges victorious.
