The National League wins the All-Star game on a Home Run Derby swing-off

For the first time ever in a setting involving major league players, a game ended on a Home Run Derby swing-off. Kyle Schwarber provided the fireworks and homered on all three of his allotted swings, which ultimately propelled the NL to victory after blowing a 6-0 lead to close out the traditional nine innings of the game.

Here’s the Schwarber highlights:

It was perfectly All-Star game, perfectly cheesy, and perfectly unique for an exhibition event. Personally, I don’t want to see it used to end a game that counts, but this will certainly generate discussion in some circles, and I’m all ears for that.

What was significantly less perfect is the way Aaron Boone handled the end of that game. (Dear Yankees, please extend this man as manager for life!) In an event designed to showcase the biggest stars in the game and a roster that included guys like Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., we instead got Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena, and Jonathan Aranda as the AL derby swing off participants. I’m so glad they lost after submitting that trio!

For those wondering, the participants were selected before the game according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, which only makes it even more baffling.

Bottom line: It was both incredibly entertaining and incredibly underwhelming all at once to have Jonathan Aranda at the plate swinging for the fences trying to match Schwarber when the game ended. It was the right storyline to close things out, but a terrible cast selection.

To be fair, Shohei Ohtani wasn’t one of the NL participants either, but Boone’s picks were stunningly terrible and deserve every bit of ridicule they’re getting in baseball circles far and wide.

Alright, let’s open it up to the OTM community with a poll: