Major League Baseball revealed the bracket for the 2021 Home Run Derby on Thursday night. This year's event will take place on Monday, July 12, and will originate from Coors Field in Denver, Colorado.
Before we touch upon the bracket, let's offer a reminder on how this whole thing works -- it's been nearly two years since the most recent one, after all. There are eight batters in all, each seeded based on their regular-season home-run total. (Ties are decided based on recent production.)
The derby is three rounds and each is single-elimination in nature. The batters have three minutes to launch as many home runs as they can. (The final round will last just two minutes.) The hitters can call a "timeout," lasting 45 seconds, in the each of the rounds. Players can also gain bonus time by delivering multiple home runs over 475 feet. Ties are settled with a minute-long homer-off.
Here is this year's bracket:
No. 1 Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) vs. No. 8 Juan Soto (Washington Nationals)
No. 4 Salvador Pérez (Kansas City Royals) vs. No. 5 Pete Alonso (New York Mets)
No. 2 Joey Gallo (Texas Rangers) vs. No. 7 Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies)
No. 3 Matt Olson (Oakland Athletics) vs. No. 6 Trey Mancini (Baltimore Orioles)
Alonso will attempt to repeat as champion. Though Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. set all kinds of records in 2019, it was Alonso who ended up winning the event. (The 2020 edition of the Home Run Derby was, of course, canceled alongside the All-Star Game and the rest of the midsummer events because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.)
The Derby, once again, is scheduled to take place on Monday, July 11. ESPN will broadcast it live. The MLB All-Star Game will be held the next evening, on Tuesday, July 12.