Jul 15, 2025; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; National League designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with his teammates after hitting in the swing off after the 2025 MLB All Star Game ended in a tie at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images Jordan Godfree
The first nine innings of Tuesday's 2025 MLB All-Star Game culminated in a 6-6 tie, and for the first time, baseball fans got to see a much more exciting version of a tiebreaker: a swing-off.
Three players from each league. Three swings each. Whichever league hit the most dingers would win.
This format was implemented for the All-Star Game in 2022, but it hadn't been necessary until this year. It seems like it was almost custom tailored to Kyle Schwarber's strengths, and he sure showed off Tuesday night.
Brent Rooker and Randy Arozarena had already hit for the AL. Kyle Stowers had already hit for the NL.
Schwarber stepped up to the plate with the NL down 3-1 and sent three Schwarbombs deep into the Atlanta night.
Kyle Schwarber goes 3 FOR 3 in the Home Run Derby and powers the NL to an All-Star Game win!
CLUTCH. pic.twitter.com/y9zgDO5VOv
Jonathan Aranda, the AL's last hitter, failed to send one out, and the NL rejoiced on the field.
It was fun. It was exciting. It created highlight-reel moments. It started trending online instantly; any content related to the makeshift home run derby attracted loads of engagement.
In other words, this is exactly what MLB has been looking for.
In a sports social media landscape dominated by the NFL and the NBA, MLB has been searching for ways to keep itself in the conversation. A sport that prides itself on tradition often sacrifices evolution to preserve that tradition, and given that other leagues prioritize evolving with the times above all else, baseball has fallen behind.
Baseball desperately needed a moment like this, a moment that got everyone talking about its Midsummer Classic.
The success of the swing-off had people on the internet obsessively theorizing about how it could fix MLB's extra innings problem. The implementation of the ghost runner in 2023 has been met with mixed reception, and its detractors instantly latched onto the home run derby as a solution.
MLB should do this swing off to decide extra inning games instead of the weird ghost runner thing they do now
It seems that the swing-off will be mentioned in the "how do we fix baseball" conversation for a long, long time.
So will the swing-off be implemented as a replacement for extra innings? In all likelihood, no.
That said, should MLB take note of the lightning it captured in a bottle on Tuesday? It would be sorely mistaken not to.
