MLB All-Star Game 'swing-off' was very entertaining, but one time a year is plenty
The National League team reacts with teammate Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies after he hit three home runs during the swing-off at the end of the All-Star Game at Truist Park on Tuesday in Atlanta. Credit: Getty Images/Katharine Lotze
What does it say about the 95th All-Star Game that the most thrilling part of the entire night had a Dodgers’ third-base coach grooving BP fastballs from the mound and a bullpen catcher behind the plate?
Surreal doesn’t begin to describe the events of Tuesday night’s “swing-off” tiebreaker, the first time in MLB history a Home Run Derby-style competition was staged to decide the Midsummer Classic.
The other word we’d use?
Sensational.
Think of it this way: how many times have you watched the All-Star Game and been unable to take your eyes off the field? For a large majority of Tuesday’s viewing audience, this had to be the first, especially with the clock approaching midnight.
And those lucky enough to be awake when Phillies’ slugger Kyle Schwarber capitalized on all three of his allotted swings — smashing a trio of homers, the longest traveling 461 feet deep into the Truist Park bleachers — were treated to something never before witnessed at this event.
That goes for the All-Star players, too, many who returned to the field in street-clothes as gawking spectators to see Schwarber strike an already-iconic pose on his final swing — left knee down, his right arm pointing the bat at the ball’s flight, which nearly crashed the cocktail bar way beyond the rightfield wall.
“He’s always dangerous,” said Pete Alonso, the NL’s third and final hitter, who was left on deck when the Rays’ Jonathan Aranda came up empty in the AL’s final turn.
If Alonso wound up getting his chance at the plate — the day after skipping the actual Home Run Derby — was there any doubt the Polar Bear would’ve walked it off? Not for a two-time champ, but Schwarber’s heroics ended up snatching the MVP trophy away from Alonso, who was the leader in the clubhouse (before the tie) due to his sixth-inning three-run blast off the Royals’ Kris Bubic.
And this is where the whole “swing-off” thing gets a bit wonky: Schwarber earned the MVP despite going 0-for-2 with a walk during the nine-inning game, then making his only impact when facing a coach who was basically throwing batting practice. Was there pressure? Sure. But there’s no comparison between Alonso swatting Bubic’s 94-mph heater with two men on base and Schwarber buggy-whipping a few meatballs from the same coach, Dino Ebel, who tossed him BP at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
That said, Schwarber was the only slugger who went deep on all three swings. The A’s Brent Rooker did it twice, the Mariners’ Randy Arozarena and Marlins’ Kyle Stowers each had one homer and Ananda got the goose egg.
“There’s a lot of guys who are way more deserving of this award,” Schwarber said afterward.
But MLB’s voting bloc — which included broadcast rightsholders, selected media (not me) and fans — evidently got swept up in the “swing-off” fever. So did a bunch of players.
“I have a group text with other players around baseball,” the Giants’ Logan Webb told reporters in the postgame NL clubhouse, “and they said we should never play an extra-inning game again. We should always end games just like that. It should be just straight Home Run Derby.”
Whoa. Pump the brakes there Logan But we can’t blame Webb’s text chain for getting a bit carried away. Back in 2022, when MLB first announced they would go to a “swing-off” to decide the All-Star Game, I wondered aloud (in a column) if it might make sense for the regular season. In my defense, Juan Soto had just won a dazzling Derby the previous night at Dodger Stadium, so MLB was giddy over the concept, too.
Not a shocker that Alonso was firmly on board with the idea, but maybe not until the 13th inning — once the ghost-runner at second had failed to decide the game by then. That would make the “swing-off” concept a very rare occurrence. On Tuesday, it took four years and the AL rallying from a 6-0 deficit, the biggest comeback in All-Star Game history to tie or win the game (per Elias), for the “swing-off” to finally happen.
But for all the unmatched entertainment value that homer-hitting contest supplied, it still feels like a bridge too far for the regular season. When the question was pitched Tuesday night to NL manager Dave Roberts, he seemed taken aback that somebody would even suggest the possibility of going to a “swing-off” tiebreaker during the 162 that count for real.
“Oh, no,” Roberts said. “I think that it was great for this exhibition. But in the regular season, I don’t mind how it plays out with the man on second base.”
MLB is on a roll lately with remarkably successful innovations. The pitch clock didn’t make the games rushed — just returned the pace to how it should be. The ghost-runner for extra innings doesn’t alter the fundamentals of the game — merely helps create action quicker, for a more expedient resolution, like any other sport’s overtime.
Next up is the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system (ABS) and that also seemed to be a big hit in Tuesday’s All-Star Game debut, it’s highest-profile usage to date. Not only does the Hawk-Eye tracking system get the call right, displaying the pitch as on the videoboard is hugely entertaining — to the players as well.
Not very long ago, those ideas were considered radical, too. But unlike these others, the “swing-off” tiebreaker isn’t really baseball. Once you put a coach on the mound, pitching behind an L screen, that’s batting practice. Definitely fun to watch, but hard to digest as a way to decide real games.
“It will be interesting to see where that goes,” AL manager Aaron Boone said. “There's probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it's in some regular season mix. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if people start talking about it like that. Obviously, I don't think that should happen.”
We’ve learned to never say never. For now, though, it’s probably best to just keep rooting for ties in the All-Star Game, because everyone would happily sign on for more of what we got Tuesday night at Truist Park.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
