Everything to know about tonight's Home Run Derby (8 ET, ESPN)

It’s an event baseball fans around the world await with great anticipation each year, one for which they know they’ll have reason to celebrate raw power and walk away in awe of what they’ve witnessed.

• T-Mobile Home Run Derby, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

Tonight at Globe Life Field in Arlington, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) will once again serve as a delicious appetizer to the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard, which will follow on Tuesday.

• Play Home Run Derby Pick 'Em, compete for $100,000!

This year’s Derby field is not only star-studded, but also features an intriguing mix of young superstars and veteran sluggers who will be playing under new rules. It also presents the possibility of Derby history being made, with one participant looking to tie the record for most Derby victories.

Youth will be served when a pair of electric young shortstops, the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson and the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., step into the batter’s box to take their aim at the far reaches of Globe Life Field.

Meanwhile, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso will look to tie Ken Griffey Jr. with his third Home Run Derby title. Hometown favorite and World Series hero Adolis García will try to become the fourth Derby participant to win the contest in his home ballpark. Fellow veteran slugger José Ramírez will make his second Derby appearance, while NL MVP hopeful Marcell Ozuna, Phillies breakout star Alec Bohm and Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernández will make their Derby debuts.

With Globe Life Field being one of the more hitter-friendly parks in the Majors -- there are only three ballparks in which more homers have been hit this season -- the bats inside the enclosed venue will surely be as hot as the Texas heat outside.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 T-Mobile Home Run Derby.

Where can I tune in?

ESPN will exclusively televise the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at 8 p.m. ET. The event will also be available on ESPN+, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes.

What are the key storylines?

Alonso will be participating in his fifth straight Derby, having won the competition in 2019 and ’21. The “Polar Bear” is very fond of the event and will attempt for the third time to win his record-tying third Derby.

García will not only seek a victory in his home ballpark, but he’ll also try to become the third Rangers player -- and first since Juan Gonzales all the way back in 1993 – to win the Derby (Ruben Sierra was a co-winner with the Reds’ Eric Davis in 1989). If García hits anything like he did last fall, when he clubbed eight postseason homers -- including five in the AL Championship Series -- he should do just fine.

The shortstop duo of Henderson and Witt will be exciting to watch, to say the least. After belting 28 homers in an AL Rookie of the Year campaign last season, the 23-year-old Henderson has already matched that in 2024, second in the AL only to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (34). Witt, who grew up just north of Arlington, entered the All-Star break on a hot streak -- the 24-year-old is batting .425 with three homers over his last 10 games.

Ozuna will look to become the first Braves player to win the event. The closest any Atlanta participant has come is second -- Fred McGriff finished runner-up to Griffey in 1994, as did Ozzie Virgil in 1987. Ozuna is having another great season at the plate, with 26 homers and an NL-best 77 RBIs so far.

Likewise, Ramírez is having a sensational first half, with 23 homers of his own to go along with 77 RBIs and an .842 OPS. In his second Derby, he hopes to become the first Cleveland player to win the event (Hall of Famer Jim Thome was runner-up to Griffey in 1998, and Albert Belle finished second in Arlington in ’95) as well as the first switch-hitter.

The Phillies are loaded with home run hitters, but it won’t be Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber or Trea Turner in this year’s Derby. It’ll be Bohm, who is enjoying a breakout performance at the plate in 2024. What a story it would be if he were to take home the Derby trophy after entering the contest as a decided underdog.

A potential dark-horse candidate to win the Derby is Hernández, who is having a strong season in his first with the Dodgers. The right-handed hitter has smashed 19 homers so far this year after hitting 26 in 2023.

How will the seeds be decided?

With the rules changes this season, there will be no seeding for the first round of the Derby. Instead, all eight participants will hit as many homers as possible in their allotted time, and when the round closes, the top four will advance to the semifinal round.

For the semifinals, the seeding will be determined by the number of homers hit in Round 1. If there is a tie, the player who hit the longest home run among the tied players will receive the higher seeding. The No. 1 seed will face the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed will take on the No. 3 seed to determine the two sluggers who will advance to the final round.

What is the format?

There are a few format changes to this year’s Derby. While the three rounds remain the same in terms of length, there will be a pitch limit -- in each of the first two rounds, a hitter will be allowed three minutes (excluding any bonus time) or 40 pitches, whichever limit is hit first. And in the finals, hitters will be allotted two minutes (excluding any bonus time) or a maximum of 27 pitches, whichever comes first. You can find a breakdown of all the format changes here.

Will the participants receive or earn bonus time?

Yes, but the bonus time will be issued differently than in years past. Instead of an automatic 30 seconds of bonus time, followed by an additional 30 seconds if a hitter launched multiple home runs of more than 440 feet during the regulation period, hitters will now be given three “outs” (any ball hit that is not a home run is considered an “out”) to hit as many homers as possible. If a player hits any home runs of at least 425 feet during the bonus period, he will be granted an additional out.

Can players stop the clock?

Batters are entitled to one 45-second timeout in each of the three regulation periods, but timeouts can’t be called during bonus periods.

If a tiebreaker is needed at the end of a round once the “knockout” stage has begun, ties will be broken by a 60-second swing-off with no stoppage of time or additional time added. If there is still a tie after the swing-off, batters will engage in successive three-swing “swing-offs” until there is a winner.

Is money on the line in the Derby?

As part of an agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association prior to the 2019 season, the Home Run Derby prize pool was increased from $725,000 to $2.5 million. The winner takes home $1 million of that total.