[clydepepper]

I fought my apathy toward the way these contests had been presented in the past and was pleasantly surprised.

The humidor was not involved- there were actual 'moon-shots'. Let's face it, we would rather view longer drives than wall-scrapers.


The fast-paced format was wonderful!

While Ohtani & Gallo did not face off in the finals as was the hope, Trey Mancini and Pete Alonso more than made up for their absence.

In fact, the lower-seeded hitters one all four of the first round match-ups.

Cancer survivor Trey Mancini outlasted Matt Olson 24-to-23

The Rockies own Trevor Story fought off a last Gallo run : Alonso hit 35 bombs to eliminate Salvador Perez, who was amazing too - with his 28.

The last first round match-up was between Juan Soto and Ohtani. Soto put the number one seed in a position where he had to play catch up, which he did barley in regulation and overtime. Then Soto tightened his grip by acing the three hit swing-off- Ohtani grounding out on his first swing, and thus being eliminated.


Ohtani showed more fatigue than any of the others...hope he has enough stamina for the All-Star Game tonight.


Besides seeing such a large crowd, seeing ALL the players wearing #44 was very special. More than the stinking Braves who STILL don't have his patch on their sleeves.


Anyway, I think this was the best Derby ever!