He worked his way back with the Baltimore Orioles, earned his way to the Derby with a 16-homer first half and almost won the whole thing despite facing the second-longest odds to do so. Mancini spent six months last season fighting through a biweekly chemotherapy program. Mancini hit 11 consecutive home runs to top Matt Olson in a thrilling first round, then cruised past Trevor Story, the hometown hero, in the second round and accumulated 22 home runs in the finals. That best-in-game label might not be far off after all.Īlden Gonzalez: Trey Mancini, 16 months to the day since being diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, came excruciatingly close to defeating the reigning Home Run Derby champion and taking home the crown. And here's another thing you might have forgotten: Soto is almost five years younger than Ohtani. The fans made it clear whom they wanted to win, so when Soto calmly hit the three pitches he saw over the fence in the second overtime, he beat Ohtani and a partisan crowd. It happened in the breaks between their overtimes as well. The packed house at Coors Field began chanting Ohtani's name as his HR pace picked up during their match. After all, he has just 11 home runs this season and he was the third-longest shot to win the Derby. Remember way back when - like at the beginning of the season - it was Soto who was considered the heir apparent to Mike Trout as the best player in the game.īut Ohtani's 33 home runs at the break combined with his pitching prowess might have led many to forget about Soto - at least a little. Jesse Rogers: The night might have belonged to Pete Alonso, but the highlight was Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani's first-round, double-overtime showdown. One final thought: Let's bring back pre-humidor baseball to Coors Field. Let's do it again next year, Pete, and see if you can match Ken Griffey Jr. His 35-homer onslaught in the first round matched Josh Hamilton's epic round in 2008 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s round in 2019 as the most exciting in Derby history, and then he walked it off in the final with six home runs in a row to beat Trey Mancini. Pete Alonso (23 home runs) defeats Trey Mancini (22 home runs)ĭave Schoenfield: As much as we wanted to precook the "Shohei Ohtani shows us another reason he's a superhero" story, the Home Run Derby is as unpredictable as real baseball - although after watching Pete Alonso defend his title with a dominating performance, maybe that particular result was predictable. Pete Alonso (16 home runs) defeats Juan Soto (15 home runs) Finals Trey Mancini (13 home runs) defeats Trevor Story (12 home runs) Juan Soto (31 home runs) defeats Shohei Ohtani (28 home runs) Round 2 Pete Alonso (35 home runs) defeats Salvador Perez (28 home runs) Trevor Story (20 home runs) defeats Joey Gallo (19 home runs) Trey Mancini (24 home runs) defeats Matt Olson (23 home runs) To celebrate the midsummer festivities, we asked ESPN MLB experts Alden Gonzalez, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield for their pre-Derby predictions and post-Derby takeaways.Ĭheck out how accurate our experts were in their predictions, relive the biggest dramatic moments of the Derby, and see what it all means going forward. Alonso might have taken the crown, but the Derby was full of drama - from Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto battling it out in an epic double-overtime first round to Trey Mancini continuing his incredible comeback story by making it to the finals. Pete Alonso is your 2021 Home Run Derby champion, smacking scores of towering home runs in the thin air of Coors Field to become back-to-back champion. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĢ021 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby: Results, bracket and highlights as stars swung for the fences in Denver
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