PHILADELPHIA - If Tuesday night’s All-Star Game finishes deadlocked, the finish won’t be decided by a marathon of extra innings. It’ll come down to a swing-off, and six sluggers have already been lined up for the job.
On the American League side, manager John Schneider picked Munetaka Murakami (White Sox), Willson Contreras (Red Sox) and Randy Arozarena (Mariners). For the National League, Dave Roberts selected Jordan Walker, James Wood (Nationals) and Hunter Goodman (Rockies).
Walker arrives with some fresh spotlight of his own after taking Monday’s Home Run Derby with a dramatic comeback in the final against Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber. If the game reaches the tiebreaker, he’ll be one of the names at the center of it.
The swing-off is not new anymore, either. Schwarber won the first one last season in Atlanta after the 2025 Midsummer Classic ended tied 6-6 through nine innings. He went deep on all three of his swings and ended up taking home All-Star Game MVP honors.
Goodman, who is third in the NL with 27 homers, said he enjoyed the way last year’s game ended.
“That was a really fun way to end the game. These All-Star Games, pitchers throw one inning so you don’t have enough guys to go extra innings,” Goodman said. “It’s a really entertaining way and a really fun way to end the game.”
Schwarber still remembers the moment vividly.
“It was just a lot of fun and I could feel the energy from the fans there and your teammates on the side who all came out cheering and jumping,” said Schwarber. “Definitely something that was cool.”
The format was built into the Collective Bargaining Agreement that took effect in 2022 and will stay in place for at least the life of the current CBA, which runs through the end of the ’26 season.
Here’s the setup: after the ninth inning, play pauses so the grounds crew can rework the field. Each player gets three swings to pile up as many homers as possible, with unlimited pitches allowed as long as they don’t count against the swing total. The visiting team goes first, then the home team.
Once all six hitters are done, the club with the higher combined homer total wins the game. If the totals are tied, the managers go back to the original three participants and pick one batter apiece for a three-swing head-to-head round.
That process keeps going until somebody breaks through. The winner gets the game in the books by one run, and there is no winning or losing pitcher.
In Other News...
James Wood Just Gave Nationals Fans Another Reason To Dream
James Woods breakout season picked up another layer of recognition this week, as the Nationals outfielder was named the National League Player of the Week after a blistering six-game stretch. It was the kind of run that keeps changing the conversation around him in Washington, where every big week seems to add to the sense that the club has a centerpiece worth building around.
Wood did his damage by piling up hits, power and traffic on the bases, and the bigger picture is even more eye-catching: he sits near the top of the league in several major offensive categories. For a Nationals team still searching for a clearer direction, that kind of production from a young outfielder is the sort of development fans can hang hope on, even as the season keeps asking for more proof. [Read more 🡒]
Corbin Carroll Shares All-Star Stage With A Truly Special Young Core
Before they were multiple-time MLB All-Stars, CJ Abrams, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Riley Greene and Bobby Witt Jr. were just a talented group of teenagers on the 2018 Team USA U-18 squad, chasing gold together and building the kind of bond that tends to stick. The tournament gave them a common reference point long before any of them reached this stage, and it is easy to see why that summer still comes up when their careers are mentioned now.
The reunion of those former teammates on baseballs biggest midsummer stage adds a little extra texture to the All-Star week conversation, especially for a player like Abrams, who has grown into one of the more recognizable young names in the game. The shared history is the fun part, but it also underscores how rare it is for a youth team to produce this many stars at once, with each of them now carrying a different piece of the same story into the majors. [Read more 🡒]
Luis Garcia Earns Nationals Respect In MLB First Base Top 10
At the All-Star break, Luis Garcia has put himself in a conversation that would have sounded ambitious a few months ago, and the Nationals have reason to take notice. The midseason ranking of MLB first basemen puts a spotlight on players making real noise for their clubs, with names like Ben Rice setting the pace and others such as Jonathan Aranda drawing attention for strong all-around production.
For Washington, Garcias place in that group says as much about his season as it does about the broader shape of the position right now. The second half will decide how long he stays in that company, but even getting mentioned among the games top first basemen is a sign of how far his year has come and how much value he has given the Nationals so far. [Read more 🡒]