MLB Home Run Derby: A game of four-on-four bashing (and tweeting)
Are you ready for some long ball?
The MLB Home Run Derby, part of the All-Star Game festivities in Phoenix, is scheduled for Monday night and will be televised on ESPN, beginning at 8 p.m., ET.
This year's contest features a new format, pitting four sluggers from the American League against four home run hitters from the National League. It's still a competition for which one player can hit the most home runs. But there's an added team charity dimension: the captain of the League with the most home runs, chooses the charity that MLB will make a donation to. The American League squad will be led by David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, while the National League group is headed up by Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Along with the "four-on-four" slugger format, another new feature of the competition will be live tweeting by the competitors from the field at Chase Park. Will we see a bit of "trash tweeting" in the on-deck circle?
Each team captain picked his final three slots. Filling out the AL team is Adrian Gonzalez of the Red Sox, Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays, and Robinson Cano of the Yankees. The National League squad features the Cardinals' Matt Holliday, Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, and Rickie Weeks of the Brewers.
While there's a new team format this year, there will be only one home-run derby champ. All hitters will get 10 outs per round, with the four players with the most homers moving on to the second round.
The two players with the most home runs after the second round advance to the championship round, where a winner will be determined based on the number of homers hit in the finals.
