Dingers. Taters. Bombs. Whatever you want to call them, the home run is one of the most exhilarating actions in all of sports. Whether you’re a baseball stats-head or someone that finds the sport to be an overall bore, the excitement of a ball leaving the park cannot be denied. Major League Baseball (MLB) seems to fully understand the intrinsic appeal of the long ball and, since 1985, has doubled down on it with the Home Run Derby. For those unfamiliar, the Derby is a competition involving some of the best hitters in baseball to see who can hit the most home runs. The rules have been tweaked over the years, but up until 2014 the basic structure remained fairly constant. Each player is given a set amount of “outs”, which are recorded if they hit a ball that does not reach the stands, and they must hit as many home runs as possible before recording their final out. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and one look at Derby participants in years past shows a veritable who’s who of baseball greats, including Ken Griffey Jr., Vladimir Guerrero, and Darryl Strawberry.
So why am I writing about the Home Run Derby on a blog dedicated to gaming? Well, aside from it being an excuse to bore you all with baseball, this year’s Derby is set to air tonight (July 11th) at 8 PM Eastern Time. But in addition to timeliness, the Derby has undergone a format change. Since last year, the Derby has eliminated the concept of “outs” and have instead chosen to go with a timer system. Here is a summary of the new rules per Wikipedia:
In 2015, the format was overhauled. A bracket system was implemented, with 8 hitters seeded based on their regular-season home runs totals entering the All-Star break. The players compete in single-elimination, head-to-head matchups, continuing through 3 rounds until there is a winner. With this system, outs were also eliminated in favor of timed rounds, affording players unlimited swings. Five-minute limits had originally been decided upon for each hitter's turn at bat, although weather concerns preceding the 2015 Home Run Derby resulted in MLB reducing it to four minutes. Players who hit at least two home runs measuring at least 420 feet (130 m) are given an extra minute of bonus time. An additional 30 seconds of bonus time is granted if at least one home run measures over 475 feet (145 m).[6] If a tie remains after time runs out on both players (including any bonus time earned), there will be a 90-second swing-off (without bonus time nor timeouts); if still tied, three swing-off rounds; thereafter, sudden-death swing-off rounds apply until one player homers.
You probably glazed over that last part, so let’s see how the new rules work in action. Here’s Todd Frazier’s winning round from last year’s Derby:
See that? The measuring of home run distance, the bonuses awarded based on performance, the concept of beating the other player’s high score? It’s practically a real life video game! MLB has successfully gamified the Home Run Derby and the result is thrilling to watch. Given the time pressure, players are going after every pitch that is offered to them, with a great many of the batted balls not reaching the stands. But those hits aren’t the ones the viewer remembers. Since the contestants are incentivized to hit balls as far as possible to gain additional time, we get to see Frazier hit 400+ foot moon shots that look impressive even on TV. Add to that the overlays showing where the ball landed along with their distance, and the viewer is given instant feedback on how well the player is doing.
The presentation and setup of the new Derby clearly takes inspiration from video games, specifically baseball video games. And that’s pretty crazy if you think about it. The best-selling sports games are typically the ones dedicated to being as accurate to the on-the-field action and TV presentation as possible. Consider the Madden series, which is named after a man mostly known for his work in the commentator’s booth. Those games strive for an accurate simulation that closely mirrors what you see on TV each Sunday. Any pieces of video game artifice, including such things as indicators under players’ feet or ball markers on the field, are seen as necessary evils at best. However, with the rise of sophisticated broadcasting software the real life product is starting to look more and more like what our consoles are pumping out. What started with the first down marker in football broadcasts have now blossomed into such visually striking artifacts such as the arc of a basketball jump shot or the strike zone overlay in baseball.
These artifacts, while incredible when viewed at home, so far hasn’t translated into very many changes in the actual sports themselves. This is what makes the revamped Home Run Derby so intriguing. Sure, it may be an exhibition that has little stakes aside from pride, but the players are actually being compelled to play in a manner that wouldn’t be out of place in an arcade hall. Given the fact that the latest generation of athletes have grown up with a controller in hand like the rest of us, of course they’re going to be more open to these kinds of ideas than their stodgy old counterparts. Will the Derby be a harbinger of things to come, where professional sports leagues are more willing to experiment with format and rules to create a more entertaining product? Of that I’m not sure, but for now I’ll enjoy the thrill of watching some talented athletes smack the leather off some baseballs.
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