Members of Japan pose for a photo after defeating the Southwest Team from Texas to win the Little League World Series on Aug. 27, 2017 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Major League Baseball is sponsoring another Home Run Derby VR tournament on Wednesday, featuring participants from the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
Each of the 16 U.S. and international LLWS teams will have one entrant representing his or her team. Players will have 90 seconds to hit as many home runs as possible, and will compete in a four-round knockout bracket. The tournament will stream live on ESPN3 and ESPN+ at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday. A 30-minute recap will air on linear ESPN on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
The first such live tournament was held just before the real Home Run Derby during the 2018 All-Star Game festivities in Washington in July. Children and adults competed against each other in that tournament, but the four semifinalists were all under the age of 12. Chuck Smolka, who is nine, won the competition. The Home Run Derby VR game was released commercially in April, and nearly half of MLB’s ballparks now have an installation.
SportTechie Takeaway
MLB is building off the momentum of its first foray into esports, with the D.C. event featuring 5,000 walk-up participants. That event also drew a peak concurrent audience on Twitch of 120,500—the livestream was the top live video on Twitch’s platform that day. This is a good way for MLB to build a digital audience and target the young fans the sport is working so hard to reach.
