Jordan Walker's Finish Made 2026 Home Run Derby One to Remember

PHILADELPHIA — Even if it’s by far the biggest red-letter day on the regular season baseball calendar, the Home Run Derby is never going to satisfy everyone.

It’s always going to take too long. Remember the old days, when your channel guide said ESPN was airing the Home Run Derby from 8-10? Pretty sure that’s why the acronym LOL was invented.

As the biggest red-letter day on the regular season baseball calendar, Major League Baseball is always going to try and make it a pop culture moment…even if that pop culture moment feels like it should have taken place in 2006 with Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell introducing players on the Netflix broadcast. Or 1986 with Michael Buffer asking if we’re all ready to rumble.

And speaking of 1986 there’s people out there who think the biggest red-letter day on the regular season baseball calendar should still be the All-Star Game itself. No names, but get off my lawn.

Still, despite its imperfections, the Home Run Derby almost always delivers the goods — as it did yet again last night.

Everyone who stuck around until 10:39 PM EST was rewarded with Jordan Walker completing the most dramatic comeback in event history by homering on his last six at-bats to earn a 12-11 win over hometown favorite Kyle Schwarber in the finals.

“I can’t even describe how it means to win it,” Walker said. “It was a lot of swings, a lot of pressure but I think I just had fun no matter what. Like, every round I was having a good time, you know?”

Walker’s surge capped an evening that started out slowly despite a series of rule changes designed to speed up the event and add some intrigue.

Eliminating the timed rounds in favor of granting each player 20 swings in the first round and 15 in the semis and finals was a good idea, but the eight contestants combined for 80 homers on 161 swings in the first round.

The “Magenta Ball,” used for the 20th swing and granting a player one extra swing per homer, yielded exactly one homer — by leadoff batter Willson Contreras — and several disappointing pop-ups. Basically, it was like watching the New York Mets.

The semifinals had a little more action but resulted in a seemingly anticlimactic final when Walker edged Junior Caminero 6-5 to end any hopes of the two hottest home run hitters on the planet meeting in the finals. Schwarber, who nipped Contreras 9-8 in the semis, and Caminero have combined for 25 homers since June 1.

But the final proved to be great theatre and the best duel of the night.

Walker laughed as he was booed heading into the finals by a capacity crowd of 43,863 that apparently was made up entirely of diehard Philadelphia fans leaning into their reputation.

“My thought was Philly is brutal,” Walker said. “But I think that’s pretty special, because they love their players and that’s what you want from your home.

“I can’t hate them, because that’s their guy.”

Schwarber seemed headed for the storybook ending when Walker entered his 19th swing with just eight homers. But Walker built momentum with each of his final six swings, including four on “Magenta Balls,” capping the comeback with a no-doubter well into the left field seats.

The fun was just starting for Walker, who strolled into the post-Derby press conference wearing a leather jacket that had the Netflix logo on one side and “MVP 2026” emblazoned above a pair of bats on the other. He also carried the trophy and his Iron Man-emblazoned bat while sporting a chain — presented to him by 2006 Home Run Derby champ and Phillies legend Ryan Howard — with the word CHAMP emblazoned across the Liberty Bell.

“As a kid when I grew up, my favorite thing to do playing baseball was to hit home runs,” Walker said, speaking for all of us, even if some or all of our home runs happened on the playground at sixth-grade recess. Again, no names.

“When a competition is dedicated to doing it, I’m going to have fun doing it.”

Everyone watching had fun Monday, when Walker authored an ending worthy of the biggest red-letter day on baseball’s regular season calendar.