We are less than a month away from the most delightful, awe-inspiring, low-stakes, good-natured event on the baseball calendar: the Home Run Derby.
This year, MLB’s smorgasbord of big flies will take place July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home to the 2026 All-Star festivities. Unfortunately, last year’s dinger champ, Cal Raleigh, likely won’t be around to defend his ****** le, as the Mariners’ catcher has endured an injury-riddled first half.
As of this moment, none of the eight Derby contenders has been announced, so let’s take this opportunity to craft ourselves a dream field. A good Derby needs diversity: righties and lefties, moon shots and laserbeams, heroes and heels, youngsters and geezers, innocence and experience. Something for everybody, everybody for somebody.
To be clear, the following octet is an unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky hope. Some of these sluggers will forgo participation due to injury, fear of injury or, in Shohei Ohtani’s case, the pursuit of a Cy Young.
But let’s at least dream about the world we want to live in.
This year, MLB’s smorgasbord of big flies will take place July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home to the 2026 All-Star festivities. Unfortunately, last year’s dinger champ, Cal Raleigh, likely won’t be around to defend his ****** le, as the Mariners’ catcher has endured an injury-riddled first half.
As of this moment, none of the eight Derby contenders has been announced, so let’s take this opportunity to craft ourselves a dream field. A good Derby needs diversity: righties and lefties, moon shots and laserbeams, heroes and heels, youngsters and geezers, innocence and experience. Something for everybody, everybody for somebody.
To be clear, the following octet is an unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky hope. Some of these sluggers will forgo participation due to injury, fear of injury or, in Shohei Ohtani’s case, the pursuit of a Cy Young.
But let’s at least dream about the world we want to live in.
4 months ago
