Philadelphia gets two of its own in the 2026 Home Run Derby. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper of the Phillies will compete in front of their home crowd Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, with first pitch of the competition set for 8 p.m. ET.
According to reports by CBS Sports, this year's Derby marks a significant format change. MLB is scrapping the timer, which had been in place since 2015, and returning to a swing-limit system. In Round 1, each of the eight competitors gets 20 swings. The top four home run totals advance. Rounds 2 and 3 each give participants 15 swings. There is one added wrinkle: if a player hits a home run on his final swing of any round, he keeps swinging until he fails to homer. Ties in the first round are broken by home run distance. Rounds 2 and 3 use three-swing swing-offs.
The four semifinalists will be seeded 1 through 4 based on first-round totals. The No. 1 seed faces No. 4, and No. 2 faces No. 3. The two winners meet in the final.
Schwarber is the betting favorite. FanDuel Sportsbook lists him at +300, meaning a $100 bet returns $300. Odds from Caesars Sportsbook are similar, placing him at +310. He leads the majors with 32 home runs at the All-Star break. A year ago, Schwarber finished second in the Derby with 56 home runs, losing to Seattle's Cal Raleigh, who set the mark at 60. Raleigh is not competing this year, so there will be a new champion.
Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays is the second choice at +325 on Caesars. He finished runner-up to Raleigh last year and will be looking to go one step further. Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox is next at +500, followed by Harper at +525. Jordan Walker of the Cardinals sits at +650, and Jac Caglianone of the Royals is at +700. Ben Rice of the Yankees is listed at +850, and Willson Contreras of the Red Sox is the longest shot at +1300.
Harper has his own history with the Derby. He won it in 2019 as a member of the Washington Nationals. That year, his opponent in the final was Schwarber, his current Phillies teammate. Only four players have ever won the Derby more than once: Pete Alonso, Yoenis Cespedes, Prince Fielder, and Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey holds the record with three titles.
Distance is also something to watch Monday night. The Statcast era record for longest Derby home run is 520 feet, set by Juan Soto in 2021. That blast came at altitude in Colorado, which CBS Sports notes carries something of an asterisk given the elevation advantage. Citizens Bank Park sits at sea level, so any comparable distance Monday would carry more weight.
SportsLine expert Matt Severance, who CBS Sports reports is on an 118-66-1 run on MLB picks this season with returns of +1,266, has weighed in on one specific prop: he likes Schwarber to hit the longest home run of the evening at +250 odds.
The full field competing Monday night: Schwarber and Harper for the Phillies, Caminero for the Rays, Walker for the Cardinals, Caglianone for the Royals, Rice for the Yankees, Contreras for the Red Sox, and Murakami for the White Sox.
The event streams exclusively on Netflix. Pre-event coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET.
