Report: MLB Could End 2022 All-Star Game with HR Derby If Tied After 9 Innings

If one Home Run Derby is great, a second Home Run Derby to determine the winner of the MLB All-Star Game would be even better. 

Per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, Major League Baseball could adopt a new way of deciding the Midsummer Classic if the game is tied after nine innings. 

Blum highlighted a line in the memorandum of understanding signed by MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday titled, "Tentative Agreement—All-Star Game and Home Run Derby."

"If the All-Star Game remains tied after nine innings, the game will be decided by a Home Run Derby between the teams, subject to the parties' agreement on details and format," it says. 

After the 2002 MLB All-Star Game ended in a 7-7 tie because both teams ran out of pitchers in 11 innings, then-commissioner Bud Selig adopted a rule that the winner of the game would determine home-field advantage for the World Series.

When MLB and the players association agreed to their previous collective bargaining agreement in 2016, the rule that home-field advantage for the Fall Classic would be tied to the All-Star Game was taken out.

Three All-Star Games have gone to extra innings since then. The first came at Yankee Stadium in 2008 when the American League walked it off against the National League 4-3 in 15 innings on Michael Young's sacrifice fly.

The AL won the 2017 game in 10 innings thanks to Robinson Cano's go-ahead homer. 

One year later, the AL beat the NL 8-6 in 10 innings. 

It's unclear how a Home Run Derby in the All-Star Game would work, but fans could find out as soon as this year. 

The 2022 MLB All-Star Game is scheduled to be played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on July 19. Los Angeles was going to host the 2020 game, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.