Pete Alonso was in the visitors’ clubhouse at Truist Park last week when an attendant made a confusing demand: Would the New York Mets slugger take a call from Atlanta Braves skipper Brian Snitker?
“Why is the opposing supervisor calling me?” Alonso remembered thinking.
He rapidly discovered out. Snitker was preparing to handle the National League All-Star team and had an essential concern, based on a novice, fan-friendly guideline modification.
If the rating was even after 9 innings in the All-Star Game on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, Snitker asked, would Alonso getinvolved in the brand-new tie-breaking Home Run Derby that would choose the winning group?
“I’ll be your man,” Alonso remembered informing him. “I think it’s enjoyable. I believe it’s going to be a terrific occasion if that does occur.”
Alonso wasn’t mindful of the unique format, in which 3 gamers from each league would take 3 swings each to choose the last outcome. He wasn’t alone in finding out what might be on deck.
“That would infact takeplace?” Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton stated. “This is news to me.”
With the All-Star Home Run Derby constantly popular the night priorto the videogame, Major League Baseball chose to make a punching display part of the Midsummer Classic.
And no doubt, now a lot of fans will be rooting for a tie, simply to see another launch of long balls.
Players, too.
“Are they doing that? That would be enjoyable,” Dodgers initially baseman Freddie Freeman stated. “We got Pete Alonso and Ronald [Acuña Jr.], so I like our possibilities.”
The arrangement paving the method to the development was buried in display 13 of the memorandum of understanding that settled the MLB lockout on March 10.
Alonso has 24 house runs, 3rd in the NL, and was the back-to-back Home Run Derby champ going into Monday’s competitors.
The guidelines of the tiebreaker, acquired Monday by The Associated Press, state “the supervisor of each league’s All-Star group will choose 3 gamers on his group’s active lineup who have concurred to takepart in the All-Star tiebreaker, if appropriate; one alternate gamer from his active lineup who has concurred to takepart in the All-Star tiebreaker, if essential due to injury to a tiebreaker choice; an All-Star group coach who will toss batting practice throughout the All-Star tiebreaker; and an All-Star group bullpen catcher who will catch throughout the All-Star tiebreaker.”
Play would be stoppedbriefly briefly after the ninth inning “to enable the premises team to reconfigure the field in an plan appropriate for the tiebreaker.”
In the tiebreaker, “each gamer can take an unrestricted number of pitches without it counting versus their swing overall. Players on each group might hit in any order throughout the All-Star tiebreaker; supplied, nevertheless, the batters from each group will alternate.”
As the goingto group, the AL would sendout a player to bat veryfirst, and gamers from each league would alternate.
“Once all 6 tiebreaker choices haveactually finished their swings, the group with the most house runs will be stated the winner of the All-Star Game,” the guidelines state. “In the occasion the groups have the exactsame number of house runs following the tiebreaker, each supervisor will choose one tiebreaker choice to getinvolved in another round in which the tiebreaker choice from each group takes 3 swings to break the tie. The previouslymentioned head-to-head format will continue upuntil the tie is broken.”
Reporting by Associated Press
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