Why the Home Run Derby is the most fun day of the baseball year
By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer
DENVER — The Home Run Derby is the best night of the baseball season.
I know that’s sort of a hot take. Most people would probably say it's Opening Day. The one day in the postseason with four guaranteed division series games is also sweet. I’m a big college regionals Friday and Little League Classic guy, too, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the No. 1 spot belongs to the Home Run Derby. (Watch MLB's All-Star Game beginning at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday on FOX.)
MLB HR Derby landing spots are halfway to the moon!
To put it simply, the Home Run Derby brings us the only night of the baseball year that exists solely for fun. It’s an exhibition. Its results don’t actually matter to the overall scheme of things. But at the same time, it doesn’t have the snooze-fest energy of a spring training game.
The Home Run Derby resides in a beautiful sweet spot, very rare in professional baseball, in which the stakes are low enough that everyone involved can relax and have a great time but high enough that there’s still some competitive tension.
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Obviously, the participants want to win — they’re professional athletes, after all — but at the end of the day, the entire event exists for entertainment value. There’s no slamming helmets or shouting matches or players-only meetings after a Derby loss. That pressure-less environment is unique! It’s the one night a year when everyone can focus on simply having a great time. Think about how intense Bryce Harper is all the time and how much fun he had winning the title his final year in D.C.
Now, to be clear, no one has a better time than the nonparticipating major leaguers watching on the sideline. And that includes us fans. Every single MLBer watching the Derby in person is an incredible athlete beyond anything that you or I could ever fathom. They are capable of superhuman feats themselves. So to watch their jaws drop as their compatriots launch dingers into the night is indicative of how impressive the Derby performances really are.
I mean, who could forget Dellin Betances watching Aaron Judge’s title-winning show in 2017 at Marlins Park?
Plus, with the new structure MLB implemented a few years ago, with timed rounds and head-to-head matchups instead of the old, out-based format, the Derby has become must-see TV every year. For real, there has not been a bad Derby in almost a decade.
2019 in Cleveland: Vlad Jr.'s iconic performance, Pete wins
2018 in D.C.: Harper wins at home
2017 in Miami: Judge hits the roof of Marlins Park
2016 in San Diego: Stanton laser-beam show
2015 in Cincy: Todd Frazier wins at home
2014 in Minnesota: Céspedes goes back-to-back
2013 in Queens: Céspedes unstoppable
To be honest, I didn’t watch much of the 2012 Derby in Kansas City because I was in high school then, and I actually got dumped over the phone while it was happening. But I’m sure Prince Fielder was great, too.
The poetry of the Derby is in its simplicity. You don’t need to follow baseball closely to enjoy it. You don’t even need to know the rules. It’s literally just whichever dude hits the ball over the fence wins! That’s it! It's a bunch of incredibly talented, enormous human beings swinging as hard as they can for about three hours until one guy has more homers than everyone else. It taps into the same human impulse that makes us obsessed with fireworks.
And if you think it’s great entertainment on TV, let me tell you: It’s even better in person. If you ever get the chance to go, you have to. It’s the best. There’s no lull the whole night. It’s a steady flow of awe-inspiring dingers. The energy in the ballpark is pure baseball joy. And actually, unless you’re 7 feet tall and really want to fight for a baseball, I recommend sitting in the upper deck behind home plate instead of the outfield. The view from that angle is absolutely spectacular. You get to watch the line drives whizz and the moonshots float.
Ben Verlander makes his predictions for the 2021 Home Run Derby
Obviously, Shohei Ohtani is the Derby headliner this year, as he should be. The two-way, generational baseball magician is the story of the season and should be the story of sports right now. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised that Ohtani agreed to participate, given how taxing his day-to-day life is as a two-way player. But I certainly won’t be complaining when he’s whacking balls into orbit Monday night.
Meanwhile, Pete Alonso is looking to join Yoenis Céspedes and Ken Griffey Jr. (two generational icons) as the only players to win back-to-back Derbies.
Catch the story behind Griffey's 1998 Home Run Derby victory!
The Polar Bear isn’t even an All-Star this year, which makes me think he really, really wants to become The Home Run Derby Guy. Experience matters in this contest, so I think Alonso has a great shot.
The rest of the field is great, too. Trey Mancini making an appearance after literally beating cancer last year is remarkable stuff. Salvador Perez is as joyful as human beings get and could become the first catcher to win. Trevor Story will have the hometown crowd behind him, which is always cool. Joey Gallo might hit a ball over the mountains. Juan Soto has to face Shohei in round one, but would you really doubt Juan Soto? And I guess Matt Olson is in it, too.
I’m kidding! Olson has a sweet, left-handed swing and some of the most overlooked power in the league, and considering that the overflow press box is in the second deck in right field — very much in the homer zone — I might just catch one of his dingers.
I’m just so amped, y’all. It’s finally the day of dingers, the time for taters. It's a night when we can recline and take some time off from worrying about pace of play and robot umpires and global warming and all the other stressful things in this world.
So make some popcorn, flip on the TV and watch Ohtani obliterate a basket of taters into outer space.
Jake Mintz is the louder half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.
