The 2025 MLB All-Star Game ended with a rare mini Home Run Derby on Tuesday night.
The game at Truist Park in Atlanta was all tied up through nine innings, so it led to the first All-Star swing-off — which brought a fun twist to the Midsummer Classic that didn’t disappoint. Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber ended up hitting three straight home runs during the swing-off to lift the National League to its win. That also powered him to MVP honors.
“I think that it was great for this exhibition,” NL manager Dave Roberts said. “But in the regular season, I don’t mind how it plays out in the regular season with the man on second base. But it’s the first time in history we got to do this, and I think it played pretty well tonight.”
The field for the swing-off, though, left fans a little caught off-guard. Some of the biggest names in the sport, like Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge, for example, were left out.
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The reasoning, it turns out, was a simple one. They, like many of the players, had left early. Ohtani, Roberts said, was “long gone.”
The swing-off rules were simple. Each team put up three players, who then got three swings to hit as many home runs as they could. The leader after all three rounds then won the game.
The matchups ended up being:
Brent Rooker (AL) vs. Kyle Stowers (NL)
Randy Arozarena (AL) vs. Kyle Schwarber (NL)
Jonathan Randa (AL) vs. Pete Alonso (NL)
Alonso ended up not even needing to hit.
Roberts said he ended up putting Stowers into the event in place of Eugenio Suárez, who was hit by a pitch in his hand earlier in the night. But, as AL manager Aaron Boone confirmed, the lineups for the swing-off were actually determined Monday. The Stowers-for-Suárez swap was the only change.
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While there were several big names left out of it, it makes sense if players like Ohtani and Judge weren’t planning on sticking around anyways. If they are playing only a few innings early on, it’s tough to stay loose in a glorified exhibition to then come back and hit home runs a few hours later.
“We went around and sort of polled the guys and figured out who was going to be in the back half of the game, kind of thing like that,” Roberts said.
There were, though, other options for Boone — like Bobby Witt Jr., who finished in second in the Home Run Derby last season. Witt, who was in the game late and hit an RBI double in the ninth to keep the AL in it, told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that he wasn’t even asked.
“I wish,” he said. “That would have been fun.”
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While there were plenty of questions surrounding the new format, and the choices that were made to participate, the swing-off appears to have gone over incredibly well with everyone involved.
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