The 2014 MLB Home Run Derby has a bunch of new faces this year, but more importantly, it has a new format. The American League and National League teams will undergo four rounds of home run hitting before a winner is crowned.
First established in 1985, Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby has seen a number of changes throughout the years. It began as a two-inning event and each player received five outs per inning, with the trophy being awarded to the player who hit the most home runs. From 1991 until 1999, eight players were selected for the event and competed in a three round contest to determine the winner. Each player received ten outs per round, the top four advanced to the second round (regardless of league affiliation), and then the top two advanced to the third after which a champion was crowned.
Then in 2000, the league adopted a "match play" format for the second round, where the batter who hit the most home runs in the first round faced the batter who hit the least, while the second and third place batters competed against one another. However, this format was no longer used after the 2003 event and the league returned to the previous structure. In 2011 the MLB decided that captains from the American and National Leagues would be selected to choose their home run derby teams, with four players per squad. The finals had the potential for two players in the same league compete for the championship.
This team system is still intact, but the league made some changes for the 2014 event. Now, there will be five players per home run derby team with rounds two and three featuring bracket play. Each player receives a total of seven outs per round. After the first round, whoever hits the most home runs on each team will receive a bye to the semi-finals while the player who hits the least on their team will be eliminated. This leaves six players remaining with four of them competing in the second round.
The two participants that advance from each team will compete against one another in the second round (the two American League players will face each other and the two National League players will face each other). Whoever hits the most home runs will then advance to the third round to face the top seed on their team. Again, it will be AL vs. AL and NL vs. NL. In the final round, the remaining players from each league will square off for the trophy with the batting order being determined by a coin flip. In all previous rounds the National League matchup will be the first to hit.
In the event of a tiebreaker in any of the rounds, each batter will receive three swings to hit as many home runs as possible. If they are still tied after the three swings, they will then each take one swing. The process is repeated until one player wins the swing-off.
It should be an interesting and entertaining event, as captain Jose Bautista, Adam Jones, Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Donaldson, and Brian Dozier will represent the American League while captain Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Morneau, Todd Frazier, Yasiel Puig, and Giancarlo Stanton will represent the National League.
You can read more about the 2014 MLB Home Run Derby, which will take place at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN, in this MLB.com article.