The Home Run Derby is back. After not having the event last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Run Derby returns to kick off the 2021 MLB All-Star festivities. This year’s slugfest battle will air ESPN Monday at 8 p.m. ET. It can also be streamed on WatchESPN.com.
There will be eight players competing in the 2021 Home Run Derby, including Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, Joey Gallo of the Texas Rangers, Matt Olson of the Oakland Athletics, Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals, Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles, Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies and Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals. The players will go up against each other via tournament style. Ohtani is the No. 1 seed and will face No. 8 Soto in the first round. Gallo (No. 2) will battle Story (No. 7). The final two matchups are Olson (No. 3) vs. Mancini (No. 6) and Perez (No. 4) against Alonso (No. 5).
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Ohtani is considered the favorite to win the Home Run Derby as he has hit 33 home runs at the halfway point of the season. But what makes him interesting is he is also one of the top pitchers in MLB as he will be the starter for the American League in the All-Star game.
“I’m not as against that as others,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said of Ohtani in the Home Run Derby back in June, per ESPN. “I just don’t like it when it becomes never-ending. There’s gotta be a more finite method of doing this. It is exhausting, it can be exhausting. But, again, that would be something that I would wanna ask him how he felt about it. He would be honest. I don’t think this is something you wanna attempt to force him to do or not to do. Just like we’ve been dealing with it the entire year – that would be a conversation.”
The 2020 Home Run Derby and the All-Star game will take place at Coors Field in Denver, home of the Colorado Rockies. The last time the Home Run Derby was held in Colorado was in 1998 when Ken Griffey Jr. won the title. Griffey is the only player in MLB history to win the Home Run Derby three times. He also only one of three players to win the event multiple times, as Prince Fielder and Yoenis Cespedes have won it twice.
