In a competition where distances are measured in hundreds of feet, you wouldn’t expect it to come down to a measurement of less than an inch. But that’s how Cal Raleigh advanced to the semifinals in Monday’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Atlanta’s Truist Park.
And it paid off, too, when the Mariners' catcher took that inch and won the title by outlasting the Rays' Junior Caminero, 18-15, in the final round. Raleigh hit 54 home runs total in the tournament.
Raleigh and Brent Rooker each finished the first round with 17 home runs, tied for fourth-most among the eight sluggers. With the top four contestants advancing to the semifinals, a tiebreaker was needed to determine whether Raleigh, MLB's home run leader with 38, or Rooker, who hit 20 in the first half, advanced. With no swing-offs in the first round, the determining factor is the player’s longest homer.
At first glance, it looked like the two tied in that respect as well: The leaderboard had each one’s longest blast at 471 feet. But digging deeper showed more accurate distances:
Raleigh: 470.62 feet
Rooker: 470.54 feet
That’s right: the Big Dumper advanced by .08 feet, or 0.96 inches.
"My goodness gracious, that's close," Raleigh said afterwards. "I mean, like, it's just crazy. An inch off, and I'm not even in the final four, which is amazing. So I guess I got lucky there. One extra biscuit."
Raleigh also said that he wasn’t completely aware of the situation until after it became official.
“It all happened so fast,” Raleigh said. “They said there was a tiebreaker. Obviously, I knew because in the final round, I was talking to somebody. And they're like, ‘You’ve got to get two more to get to 17 to tie Rooker. Honestly, I forgot the rule. I didn't know if it was a swing-off or distance. Somebody told me, and I was like, ‘That's insane.’ Like, crazy.”
Rooker also echoed that, from his vantage point, everything happened quickly.
“Yeah, that’s interesting,” Rooker said. “Last I knew, we were both at 471, because that’s obviously the number they put up there. Maybe if they go to the decimal point, they should display that during the Derby and not wait until everyone’s done to bring out that information. That might be helpful.”
“It is what it is. Obviously, I had a great time out there. Cal’s a great competitor. He put on a good performance, too. Rules are the rules in terms of what makes up the semifinals.”