MLB’s biggest fireworks show of the summer takes place a little more than a week after July 4.
Here is everything you need to know about this year’s event.
When is the 2025 Home Run Derby, and how can I watch it?
The 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby will get underway from Truist Park in Atlanta at 8 p.m. ET tonight. You can watch the event live on ESPN and ESPN2.
Which players are in this year’s Home Run Derby?
We are keeping track of this year’s participants right here. The eight sluggers confirmed for the competition are:
What is the format for this year’s Home Run Derby?
There are three rounds to the eight-player Derby: first round, semifinals and finals.
In the first round, the eight players each have three minutes or 40 pitches (whichever comes first) to hit as many homers as possible. There is also a bonus period for each player that lasts until they record three outs (any swing that doesn’t result in a home run) within the period. If a player hits a home run of at least 425 feet within the bonus period, the period is extended until the player records a fourth out.
The players with the top four homer totals advance to the semis. In the event of a first-round tie, the player who hit the longest home run during the round advances.
In the semifinals, the format shifts to “knockout style,” with No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3. The seeds are determined solely by the number of home runs each player hit in the first round. Players will have two minutes or 27 pitches in the semifinals and finals, and home run totals from the first round don’t carry over.
Ties in the semifinals or finals are broken by a 60-second “swing-off” with no additional time added. If a tie remains after the “swing-off,” batters then engage in successive three-swing “swing-offs” until there is a winner.
The winners of the two semifinal matchups advance to the finals, where the limits are reduced to two minutes and 27 pitches. The player with the most home runs after that period is crowned Home Run Derby champion.
One final note: Each batter is entitled to one 45-second timeout in each of the three regulation periods, but timeouts can’t be called during the bonus periods or tiebreakers.
Has Atlanta previously hosted the Home Run Derby?
Yes, once before. The All-Star Game took place at Atlanta’s Turner Field in 2000. That year’s eight-player Derby field featured five future Hall of Famers: Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Ivan Rodriguez and hometown favorite Chipper Jones.
Griffey was going for a three-peat and a fourth Derby title, but he was defeated in the finals by Sammy Sosa, nine homers to two. Sosa crushed 26 dingers during the event. Griffey had the second-highest total with 11.
What happened in last year’s Derby?
There were 225 homers hit during the 2024 Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Those dingers traveled a combined distance of 92,590 feet, or roughly 17 1/2 miles.
