Jeff Passan walked right into it. The longtime MLB insider went on ESPN’s Get Up Monday and basically told everyone the new Home Run Derby format was going to fall flat. No clock, he argued, meant no urgency. Just guys taking their sweet time between swings while viewers tuned out.
Then the derby happened. And it was great.
Jordan Walker, a 23-year-old Cardinals outfielder nobody had on their shortlist to win, came from behind in the final against Kyle Schwarber. He trailed late. Then he crushed six straight homers on his last six swings to take it 12-11. Walk-off home runs in a home run contest. That’s not supposed to happen.
A format that actually worked
MLB ditched the timed rounds this year. Instead, batters got 20 swings in the first round and 15 in every round after. If you hit a homer on your last swing, you kept going until you made an out. No buzzer. No rush. Just pure pressure baked into every single cut.
Passan worried that extra time between pitches would kill the broadcast’s momentum. But at Citizens Bank Park, the opposite happened. The crowd stayed locked in because each swing mattered more. You could feel the tension build as guys worked through their at-bats, especially when Walker kept fouling off pitches late in counts before launching one.
Passan owns it
After the derby, Awful Announcing dug up Passan’s earlier comments and posted them on X. He could have ignored it. Most analysts do. Instead, he shared the post himself with a brutal self-assessment.
“passan is a moron”
That’s it. No excuses. No weaseling about how he was technically correct about something else. He took the L publicly within hours of the event ending.
The move earned him some goodwill, honestly. It’s rare to see a reporter laugh at his own bad take that fast. It also made clear that Passan is willing to let the evidence speak, even when it contradicts what he said on national television.
What this means for MLB
The league needed a win here. Last year’s derby felt flat, and the format changes drew skepticism from a lot of people, not just Passan. But the 2026 edition delivered drama, a dark-horse champion, and a finish that had fans buzzing. If Walker’s comeback becomes the defining image of this new format, MLB might have stumbled onto something sustainable.
As for Passan? He’ll probably be fine. But for one night, he was the story almost as much as the guy holding the trophy.
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