ASG MLB: Players and fans fall in love with swing-off
On a night full of news, none echoed as much as the final and titanic performance of Kyle Schwarber.
Atlanta – grabbing the glass bat they gave it as Most valuable player of the star gameKyle Schwarber walked through the clubhouse of the National League And Rio for himself: he had just won the prize without registering a single hit in the game.
“Today, a good batting practice gives you a trophy,” said Schwarber.
What happened on Tuesday night in the star game was different from everything that was seen in the 94 versions that preceded it. Thanks to a change of rules three years ago, Baseball presented its version of penalties in football or penalty shootout in hockey: break a tie after nine entrances by means of a Swing-off in the style of home run. And perhaps no one better to face the moment that Schwarber, the toleter of the Philadelphia Phillies, who connected homers in his three swings in the improvised batting practice session to boost the National League to Victoria (6-6, with a 4-3 advantage in home runs) in the Half -season.
For a star game that has become relatively monoton Swing off He gave him an air of freshness and emotion. In the midst of all oddities-the Atlanta Braves fans, in a Truist Park with exhausted tickets, encouraging a star of his hated rival, the New York Mets players encouraging Schwarber, all with the backdrop that the National League wrapped a 6-0 advantage–, the only constant was Schwarber making a hero at a crucial moment.
While the American League He traced a disadvantage of half a dozen races, the possibility of the swing off was temptingly close, not only for the wide range of fans who did not know that the Great baseball leagues and the MLB Players Association They had agreed a sudden death derby for the star game, but also for players who stayed until the end of the game to witness a contest full of pressure, especially for an exhibition match.
The rules were simple: the National League manager, Dave Robertsand the American League manager, Aaron Boonethey selected three players and a substitute to make three swings. The team with more homers won the game. Although it would have been a great experience for Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge to participate, when making their decisions in the days before the game, both manager selected players who anticipated that they would be hot at the end of the field: Schwarber, the first base of the Mets, Port Alonso, and the third base of the diamondbacks, Eugenio Suárez, for the national league, counteracting Brento Brent The athletics, the gardener of the sailors, Randy Arozarena, and the first base of Tampa Bay, Jonathan Aranda.
At the end of the game, with the possibility of a three -out draw, Los Angeles Dodgers bank coach Danny Lehmann approached the Marlins gardener, Kyle Stowers, and told him that if the game was going to extra tickets, he would have to hit by Suarez, who was removed from the game after being beaten in the hand by a 100 mph launch.
“You’re teaching me,” Stowers said.
“No, seriously no,” Lehmann said. “This is real.”
“You’re joking,” Stowers said.
“I say it seriously,” Lehmann said.
“I thought he was the young man who everyone makes fun,” Stowers said later. “And behold, at the end of the game, the manager gathered. And I thought: ‘This could be seriously.”
Boone and Roberts had a limited group to choose from. Almost half of the players had already left the stadium, heading home after a long and hot week. Those who stayed were rewarded with an urgent and entertaining trick that put them in a melting pot, raised their temperature and challenged them not to melt.
The format was different from the home run of the previous night, in which the Seattle receiver, Cal Raleight, won a contest that required resistance to overcome rounds of minutes. The swing off was different, remembering the extra rounds of the derby, where fans can admire home runs without the threat of another ball coming out of the bat shortly after.
Ohtani was not there. Judge either. And in reality it did not matter, because the players were undeniably interested in the results, the type of reaction that gave credibility to the format. After the American League tied the game with a hit within the Steve Kwan box with two outs and two strikes in the ninth, the current winner of the Cy Young of the American League, Tarik Skubal -in the locker room and street dress -, and the left -handed Kansas City, Kris Bubic, they were happy to follow the example of the exam Ryan, who said: “We have to go out to see this.”
They saw a show. And a spectacular talent. And a comeback after a 2-1 deficit after Rooker connected the ball out of the park in two of its three swings and Stowers connected a single home run. And, of course, everything was the work of the great showman, Schwarber. The 32 -year -old appeared a decade ago with five homers in his first postseason and then matched that figure in the National League Championship Series of 2023. In total, it has 21 homers in 69 postseason games. This was nothing, Schwarber being Schwarber, connecting titanic homers on the most appropriate stage.
Although he never makes batting practices in the field, Schwarber was delighted to break that habit for the good of the National League. With the third base coach of the Dodgers, Dino Ebel, throwing, Schwarber used a new bat (A 99 MPH Aroldis Chapman syndaker had broken another wood in the ninth entrance) and then connected his first swing above the fence towards the central garden. He continued with a high parable of 461 feet towards the right-central garden. His last swing was a Schwarber classic, knocking him down on his rear knee, as if he were proposing the end of the swing-off with his third homer, through the right garden line.
It was not, not officially: Aranda, one of the revelation batters of the first half, took a step forward and proceeded to connect a ball against the brick wall of the Truist Park in the gardens. It was not close to connecting a home run with the other two balls. The national league players celebrated with Schwarber, leaving Alonso without anything to celebrate victory.
“I don’t think I would like that in the middle of the season if we lost,” said San Diego Padres, Jason Adam. “But for this context, it was incredible.”
Almost all in both changing rooms shared Adam’s opinion. The demand for a swing off, and the difficulty of moving from the game to batting practically in an instant, captivated the players. And the public, although understandably regretted the absenteeism of some of the biggest baseball stars, mostly accepted the idea as a well -made novelty.
“There is probably a world where you can see that in the future, where it may be part of the regular season,” said Boone. “I would not be surprised that people start talking about it. Obviously, I don’t think that should necessarily happen, or that it happens in the near future. But I must say that it was quite exciting.”
On Tuesday he had already offered a star game full of novelties. The inclusion of the automated ball-strike challenge system allowed Bola-Strike’s decisions to almost be canceled with a simple touch on the head. In an exit in which he launched nine of his 18 pitches at more than 100 mph, the rookie Jacob Misiorowski unleashed a huge slider at 98 mph, so brutal that he amazed the players in both Dugouts.
In the end, it was an electrifying night for baseball, with Schwarber as a driver. And when Jon Sastakofsky, from the National Baseball Hallhe went to collect the bat that Schwarber used to leave 3-3-a decade after Schwarber gave to the living room the bat he used to win the most valuable player of the game of future stars-, he did not notice a single scratch or sign that the bat had been used.
“There are no ball marks,” Schwarber said.
And indeed, he did, and incidentally, reinforced the idea that swing-off could be an entertaining way to close the week of the stars game. The players of both locker Home run derby in the future. This year’s derby champion was very happy to share prominence with Schwarber.
“It’s good for the game, it’s good for baseball, it’s good for the fans,” Raleight said.
And that’s the point, right? All the dismay for the incorporation of Misiorowski to the National League team after only 25⅔ entries in the major leagues ignored a fundamental element of the week of the stars game: both to reward the players and to increase the fans.
Tuesday’s swing off was a baseball balm, surprisingly comforting, and took the game to the second half with impetus. The deadline for changes will generate that tension during the next two weeks and subsequent races through the flag. The game is in a good time because the kingdom of the unforeseen and the inscrutable is increasingly.
We may not see many of these (only 13 previous summer classics have gone to extra tickets), which will only increase its charm, allowing the Swing OFF to become the most pleasant of surprises. As we saw on Tuesday, there is glory in pressure, stress, the emotion of knowing that you only have three swings. It is a beautiful baseball synthesis, exceptional in small doses.
