2026 MLB Home Run Derby live updates: Results, bracket, scores, highlights, stats from Citizens Bank Park

Some moments defy explanation. This was one of them. Even the Philadelphia crowd seemed to require a few seconds to process what had just unfolded. With ice-water running through his veins, Jordan Walker provided one of the most unlikely and electrifying final-round comebacks in MLB Home Run Derby history.

The 24-year-old rising star homered on each of his final six swings to defeat hometown favorite Kyle Schwarber and become the first St. Louis Cardinals hitter ever to win the title. He was down to his final swing, with zero margin for error and needed to go deep three straight times to have a shot at merely tying Schwarber to force a decisive swing-off. Instead, he proceeded to launch four consecutive balls into the left-field stands. It was a herculean clutch performance that defied all odds and logic, which was made even more impressive since he was facing a hostile Citizens Bank Park crowd.

He came into the event as one of the biggest underdogs and looked cool, calm and collected in the early rounds, launching an impressive 19 homers on 27 swings, including 13 in the opening round alone, to easily coast into the finals. He dispatched one of the heavy favorites, Junior Caminero, to earn a ticket to face Schwarber in an electric final round.

Schwarber looked like he had the title wrapped up when he homered on seven of his first 10 swings in the finals and finished with a whopping 11 on 15 swings.

Needless to say, the new format amplified the drama and made this one of the more memorable showdowns in baseball history. Seriously. This was unbelievable.

Thank you to everyone for following along throughout the evening. We’ll see you tomorrow night for the Midsummer Classic.

Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber won a World Series together with the Cubs back in 2016, but only one of them was going to get an opportunity to take home the hardware in Philadelphia this time. Schwarber shook off another frosty start to homer on nine of his final 12 swings. Contreras had to sit around for nearly two hours after a 13-homer barrage in the opening round and had to contend with an adversarial Phillies crowd. He needed three homers on his final five swings and came up just shy of getting it done in an absolutely electric atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park. It’s safe to say that the new-look format is working.

It’ll be upstart Jordan Walker, one of the biggest underdogs in the event, taking on overwhelming favorite Kyle Schwarber in the final round. We know who the Philadelphia crowd is going to be pulling for. Are you not entertained?

Jordan Walker’s bid to become the first St. Louis Cardinals hitter ever to win a Home Run Derby took a massive leap towards reality as he easily dispatched one of the event’s favorites, Junior Caminero, to reach the finals. He made it look relatively effortless in the process.

Caminero homered five times on 15 swings in his semifinal round before Walker calmly responded with six on just 10 swings to punch his ticket to the final round.

It’ll be Willson Contreras, Jordan Walker, Junior Caminero and Kyle Schwarber advancing to the semifinals.

First Round Results

Willson Contreras 13

Jordan Walker 13

Junior Caminero 12

Kyle Schwarber 10

Munetaka Murakami 9

Bryce Harper 8

Jac Caglianone 8

Ben Rice 7

Harper improvised and went off the top rope to fire up the Philadelphia fans during introductions and carried that momentum into his opening round, going deep four times in his first 10 swings, including a gargantuan 482-foot shot to right-center field. He was unable to manufacture another signature moment as he came up just short of making it to the semifinals.

Semifinal Matchups (15 swings)

Willson Contreras vs. Kyle Schwarber

Jordan Walker vs. Junior Caminero

The overwhelming favorite coming into the Home Run Derby, it took Kyle Schwarber an astonishing six swings before he found the seats. He ripped off four in a row immediately afterwards. There was plenty of drama as he didn’t reach double digits until his second-to-last swing, but he managed to get there and give himself a decent shot at punching his ticket to the second round. Bryce Harper will need at least 10 in his opening round to have a shot at reaching the semifinals.

It was one of the moments we’ve all been eagerly anticipating in this year’s Home Run Derby and Junior Caminero delivered. He launched a 468-foot moonshot on his very first swing and had little trouble mashing line drives into the left-field seats.

He reached double-digit homers on his 16th swing and finished with 12 round-trippers, falling just shy of matching Willson Contreras and Jordan Walke for the first-round lead. It’s down to Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper to close out the opening round.

Ben Rice came into this one as a massive underdog and had a pretty cool storyline brewing with his father throwing to him. He really struggled to get going, taking until his fifth swing to find the seats. It looked for a moment that he was going to find his groove, but it never really came together. He reached his final swing sitting on seven big flies and popped up to extinguish any real hope of advancing. Next up: Junior Caminero. Here we go.

It might not be enough to get to the second round, but Munetaka Murakami left his mark on the Home Run Derby with some impressive blasts to right-center field. He left the yard three times on his first six swings and was sitting at nine dingers with one swing left. He had a chance to threaten Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker, but failed to leave the yard on his final swing.

Royals rising slugger Jac Caglianone scuffled out of the gate to open his round, struggling to get the ball in the air to the pull side. He went deep just once in his first nine swings before finally hitting his stride, homering on four consecutive swings that electrified the crowd. He reached the third deck in right field with a gargantuan 477-foot blast.

He wasn’t able to find another gear at the end and finished with eight homers. Not a bad showing for the 23-year-old former top prospect in his first All-Star Game experience.

In his first All-Star Game experience, Jordan Walker seemed ready for the moment. The 24-year-old rising star channeled his inner Ken Griffey Jr. with the backwards hat and went deep on his very first swing of the night. He reached double digits with seven swings left. He seemingly ran out of gas with the finish line rapidly approaching, but he managed to tie Willson Contreras with his 20th swing. That’ll do. The bar has been set extremely high for the favorites to make it through to the semifinals.

We got our first look at the new format with Willson Contreras representing his native Venezuela just a few weeks after the tragic earthquake that claimed countless lives and forever altered that country.

He put on an epic power display, crushing a 463-foot blast into the upper deck in left field on his second swing and seemed to get stronger as the round progresses. He topped out at 490 feet and reached double-digit homers before seeming to run out of steam in the closing moments. He connected for 13 homers on 19 swings before flying out to deep center field to end it.

Contreras was a massive underdog coming into the night and looks like a strong bet to make the second round.

Eight sluggers. Five first-timers. It’s almost time for some dingers.

We’re less than an hour away from getting underway in Philadelphia with the Netflix pregame show in full swing featuring Barry Bonds, who won the last Home Run Derby in Philadelphia back in 1996 when he bested Mark McGwire at Veterans Stadium. It was interesting to hear Anthony Rizzo discuss how the most challenging adjustment for the hitters in this event will be performing when their routines are completely different from normal.

Here’s the full first-round lineup:

The MLB Home Run Derby remains one of baseball’s most unpredictable and compelling events. There are no minnows in this eight-player pond with Kyle Schwarber heading in as the clear-cut favorite on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Here’s a complete breakdown of the betting landscape heading into the event.

Latest FanDuel Odds

Kyle Schwarber +340

Munetaka Murakami +470

Junior Caminero +480

Jordan Walker +600

Jac Caglianone +650

Bryce Harper +850

Ben Rice +900

Willson Contreras +1100

The Favorites

Kyle Schwarber +340

Munetaka Murakami +470

Junior Caminero +480

Schwarber has an opportunity in his home ballpark to leave a lasting imprint on his résumé as one of the most productive power hitters of his generation. He leads the majors in first-half home runs and has long demonstrated a knack for rising to the moment, most memorably homering on three consecutive swings during the first swing-off in All-Star Game history last summer. Schwarber is no stranger to this stage, having reached the finals of the 2018 Home Run Derby at Nationals Park before falling to future Phillies teammate Bryce Harper. He’s facing some extremely tough competition, but Schwarber still enters this year’s contest as the clear favorite.

There are impressive major-league debuts, and then there’s what Murakami did earlier this season, launching 20 home runs in just 57 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list in late May. The 26-year-old spent the early portion of his career rewriting Japan’s record books and now has a chance to introduce himself on a much larger stage with a left-handed swing that is tailor-made for Citizens Bank Park. The injury is impossible to ignore, but it may not be entirely detrimental. If anything, the extra time off could leave him with fresher legs than the rest of the field. He’s seen his odds shorten considerably over the past few days, emerging as the surprising second choice behind Schwarber.

Caminero finished as the runner-up to Cal Raleigh at last year’s event at Truist Park in Atlanta, falling 18–15 in a tightly contested final. The 23-year-old rising superstar, enters this year’s competition on the heels of an impressive first half where he blasted 28 home runs, building on last season’s 45-homer breakout. He’s made it abundantly clear that he’s highly motivated to win this time around. It’ll be a daunting task for a right-handed hitter to emerge victories in this ballpark, but he’s the type of special hitter that could make it happen. His 79.9 mph bat speed is the highest of any hitter in the field and should help him maximize each swing. A victory would make Caminero the youngest champion since Juan Gonzalez, who took home the crown at 23 years old back in 1993.

Best Values

Jac Caglianone +650

Ben Rice +900

If you’re looking for a dark horse candidate outside of the consensus top options, Caglianone and Rice check a lot of boxes. The pair of young, left-handed sluggers have swings perfectly suited to exploit Citizens Bank Park’s favorable dimensions in right field.

Caglianone has been putting on light-tower power displays since being drafted and leads this year’s Derby field with an average home run distance of 414 feet this season.

Meanwhile, Rice finished a remarkable first half with 29 home runs and his 9.7 percent barrels-per-plate appearance rate is tied with Schwarber and Murakami for the highest in this year’s field. He doesn’t hit a ton of tape-measure homers, but neither did last year’s winner in Cal Raleigh. He would be the first Yankee to win the event since Aaron Judge’s legendary performance back in 2017. Rice feels like the best pure value on the board heading into the event.

Fades

Jordan Walker +600

Walker finally delivered the long-awaited breakout campaign his former top-prospect pedigree promised earlier in his career. The harsh reality is that it’s incredibly difficult for a right-handed hitter to outslug an elite group of left-handed bats in this setting. According to Baseball Savant’s three-year park factors, Citizens Bank Park ranks as the most favorable home run environment for left-handed hitters, but just 18th for right-handers. This isn’t an indictment of Walker, but an acknowledgement that he’s facing an uphill climb if he’s going to outperform the likes of Schwarber, Murakami, Harper, Caglianone and Rice in this event.

The X-Factor

Bryce Harper +850

He’s largely lived up to the stratospheric hype that has followed him since he was labeled a generational talent as a teenager. This represents another opportunity to deliver a memorable moment in front of his hometown fans, which is a significant part of the reason he chose to participate this time around. He may be downplaying his motivations, but it’s difficult to imagine him not finding another gear once the lights come on. Do you really want to doubt a future Hall of Famer in his own building?

The MLB All-Star Home Run Derby in Philadelphia will have a noticeably different feel this year, with a more traditional swing-based format replacing the clock-centered version introduced back in 2015. The old format placed a premium on stamina and endurance as hitters raced against a ticking clock. This year’s version shifts the focus back to efficiency and pure unadulterated power. Rather than swinging until the timer expires, each batter will receive a fixed number of swings in each untimed round.

Format Breakdown

First round: 20 swings

Second round: 15 swings

Third round: 15 swings

Each batter will continue swinging until they fail to go deep on their final swing of the round. No matter how far behind a player falls, there’s always a chance to string together a late barrage of home runs and erase the deficit before the round ends.

The Bracket

The four hitters with the most home runs in the opening round will advance to the semifinals, with seeding determined by their first-round totals. Any ties in the first round will be decided by the length of their longest home run. In the semifinals and final, the tiebreaker will be a three-swing swing-off.

First Round Batting Order

It feels like last year’s first-ever swing-off to decide the Midsummer Classic influenced the league’s thinking. The format injected some much-needed drama, and the revised Derby format has the potential to create similar moments by slowing the pace and placing more weight on every swing. It’s also the first Home Run Derby to stream live on Netflix, making a cleaner, more traditional format easier for casual viewers to follow.

The clock is gone, but the Derby lives on. Get your popcorn ready.