One year after ESPN’s final broadcast of the Home Run Derby was plagued by dizzying camera cuts, camera operators struggling to follow the baseball in flight, and a puzzling decision to fix half the screen on the pitcher and batter rather than tracking the ball’s trajectory on every swing, the annual slugging competition has a new home on Netflix.
The streamer is in its first season of a three-year, roughly $50 million-per-year deal to become an MLB broadcast partner, and is already cutting against the grain. While baseball has embraced adding clocks to increase the pace of the play and improve the viewing experience, Netflix is taking the Home Run Derby in the opposite direction.
After decades of the Derby being televised by the Worldwide Leader, Netflix sought feedback from the league and players on how to improve the event and its viewing experience. Now, for the first time since 2014, the Derby’s competitors will operate without a clock. In this year’s rendition, which is set for 8 p.m. ET on July 13 in the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park, hitters will step to the plate with a fixed allotment of swings, per The Athletic.
Batters will receive 20 swings in the first round and 15 each of the final two rounds, and in a fun twist, can continue swinging until they make an out if they homer on their last swing of a round. With the switch, players won’t have fatigue from taking as many swings as possible, and fans won’t have to shift their attention between the clock and the competition.
Ties in the first round will be broken by whoever hit the longest home run, while in the second and third rounds, ties will be broken with a three-swing playoff.
After its Opening Night broadcast received mixed reviews, Netflix appears determined to ensure its future broadcasts prioritize the on-field product. The streamer’s other MLB production this year will be the Field of Dreams game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins on August 13.
