Stop the Steal? Kyle Schwarber appears to hit 20 home runs in OT vs Albert Pujols, ESPN screws up the count
What in the world just happened? Kyle Schwarber was battling Albert Pujols in the first round of the 2022 MLB Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium and ESPN appeared to screw up his home run count, ultimately handing him a loss in overtime.
After the first round of Schwarber vs Pujols, the match went into overtime. Schwarber needed to hit 20 to tie Pujols and it appears that he did just that. However, it looks like ESPN did not count home run #18 for Schwarber, and he ended with 19 home runs, getting eliminated in upset fashion.
Here’s the video of Kyle Schwarber hitting 20 home runs
Stop the steal!
Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what happened here. It appears Karl Ravech did say “nope” after 17 and if you look closely, you can see the kid jumping on the right field fence, which could have been the ball hitting off the top of the wall? I’m not sure, but given the fact that the entire ESPN broadcast was a complete mess, I’m going to have to go with them screwing up the count here.
This video breaks it down as well.
The MLB Home Run derby was a poor broadcast from ESPN. There were countless occasions where the broadcast team had trouble keeping up with the home run count. That’s a direct result of using a timer and the amount of pitches being thrown, rather than going the more traditional route of just having batters hit home runs based on pitches and/or outs.
I get that Pujols is an absolute legend and is making his final Home Run Derby appearance but of course now that’s up for debate on social media and just looking at that video.
Major League Baseball and Vegas had lines and there was a lot of money being wagered on the Home Run Derby last night. There’s no way they can allow these types of mistakes to happen.
Caesars told Action Network more money was bet on the Home Run Derby Monday night than the actual All-Star Game itself. PointsBet said as much money is bet on the Derby as all the events on NBA All-Star Saturday Night (Dunk, 3-Point and Skills).
Schwarber crushed a National League-best 29 home runs in 90 games. He ranks fourth among all qualified hitters in xSLG (.637), fifth in ISO (.295), sixth in average exit velocity (93 mph) and eighth in hard-hit rate (52.5%). Schwarber’s elite barrel rate (21.7%) ranks second behind only Aaron Judge.
