​With the MLB All-Star break now underway, fans of the Midsummer Classic are gearing up to watch the league’s brightest stars compete, including the yearly Home Run Derby. This year, changes are coming to the Derby’s format. Major League Baseball is ditching the timer system that has been in place since 2015.
Instead of racing against the clock to hit as many home runs as possible, competitors will be given a fixed number of swings to launch baseballs over the outfield walls. According to MLB.com, participants will begin each round with a finite swing total: 20 swings in Round 1, 15 in Round 2, and 15 again in the final round. Because the format is governed by a set number of swings, batters will not be operating under an outs-based structure as in past years. Each swing will count toward a player’s overall total, and if a batter belted a home run on their final swing, they would continue to swing until they missed a homer. In theory, a participant could surpass 20 homers in Round 1 despite the fixed swing allotment.
Here is what fans should know ahead of this year’s event. The 2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, July 13. For the first time in league history, the Derby will be streamed exclusively on Netflix. This year’s MLB All-Star festivities will take place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home stadium of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Home Run Derby will feature eight competitors aiming for home run supremacy.
In St. Petersburg, Florida, on June 25, 2026, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrated a homer against the Kansas City Royals during the fifth inning of a game at Tropicana Field. Caminero, a young Rays star, announced on June 30 that he would be the first batter to compete in this year’s Derby. The remainder of the field, including two Phillies who call Philadelphia home, is listed below with their home run totals at the All-Star break: Junior Caminero (27 home runs) of the Rays; Ben Rice (28 home runs) of the New York Yankees; Bryce Harper (20 home runs) of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Tiebreakers in this year’s Home Run Derby will be decided first by the distance of the home runs in Round 1, and, if necessary, by a three-swing swing-off in Rounds 2 and 3. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal under the title How and when to watch the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby on streaming, aimed at improving SEO.