The Home Run Derby

[The Brain]

It's All Star break in MLB and tonight was the traditional Home Run Derby. I'm probably one of the bigger baseball fans on this forum but I have to admit the Home Run Derby has run its course, at least in its current format. It's a lot of fun watching sluggers launch tape measure blasts into the night but the event is just too damn long. I hate to criticize the sport I usually defend but this event has become boring.

It's not boring at first. The first round of the tournament is fun but by the time we get to the end the Derby lasts longer than an actual game. For as much fun as it is to see those tape measure shots we don't need to see so many. Like anything else once you've seen it so much it starts to lose its appeal. The event can definitely still be fun. It just needs to be revamped a little. Less is more and simple is better. Forget the tournament concept. It's not necessary. Pick six to eight guys and have them bat once each. We don't need NL vs. AL country vs. country. Just get some of the best sluggers and however many home runs they get in one round is their total. There can be a second round in the event of a tie but an eight man elimination tournament is just overkill. Plus these guys get tired after so many swings. It may not seem like much but swinging the bat as hard as you can 40 or 50 times can drain you. By the time we get to the finals the guys are out of gas and the dingers are much less impressive.

Honestly, I didn't watch the Derby this year. I may have if it wasn't opposite Raw but I highly doubt I would have sat through the whole thing. I don't mind committing three hours to a game but I'm not interested in watching batting practice for that long. The wow factor wears off quickly so I say scale this back and people will have more fun with it.

 

[Akhilleus]

This is actually the first time I've watched the derby the entire way through. I always watch a bit of it every year, but tonight I really didn't have anything better to do so I decided to check it out since a couple of my favorite players were in it.

To me, it actually was boring at first. I was totally not a fan of the new system they had, specifically with there only being 7 outs now instead of 10. From what I remembered before most guys hit at least 5-9 homers on average a round, with the better guys maybe hitting 12-15 on a good round. But we had two people hit 2, then I think a 4 and a 6, and Jose Bautista hit 10 in the first round. That was it. The numbers were really low. It was probably a combination of the three less outs, and more so the rain.

But I will say once it got into the second round, I felt much better about it. And I actually started to embrace the new system. It keeps it a lot more interesting with the tournament bracket instead of just whoever hits the most wins. Freshens it up.

I'm not a Reds fan at all, but for some reason from the very start I felt compelled to root for Todd Frazier. I think he was the first one to come up, and he had his brother pitching to him (I think Dozier did too or somebody) and for some reason I just wanted to see him do good. But he only hit two in the first round, and I thought he was done. But then he faced off Dozier I believe it was in a tie breaker, and then went on to get all the way to final round. An underdog for sure, glad I was rooting for the kid.

It was boring at times, but it wasn't that bad. It was a decent watch considering there was never else on for me to watch. I'm not into wrestling anymore so I obviously wasn't watching Raw. I probably won't watch the All Star Game tomorrow though, but who knows. Maybe I'll catch a little bit.