When baseball’s top sluggers convene in Philadelphia for this year’s Home Run Derby, they will do so under a new set of rules.
Hitters will get 20 swings in the first round and 15 in the second and third rounds of the Derby. Additionally, they will be able to continue to swing until they make an out on their final swing of the round.
In the first round, ties will be broken by whoever hit a longer home run, and in the latter two rounds, they will be broken by a three-hack swing-off.
Since 2015, the Home Run Derby had adopted various iterations of a clock format, in which hitters would try to leave the yard as many times as they can within a set time frame.
The 2026 event goes July 13 at Citizens Bank Park. The eight-player field has yet to be announced.