Logan Webb Says MLB Players Group Chat Want to Eliminate Extra Innings for Swing-Off

The first-ever All-Star Game swing-off on Tuesday night has led to a lot of discussion among MLB players about using it instead of the extra-inning format to decide real games.

After the NL defeated the AL in the Midsummer Classic thanks to a 4-3 advantage in the swing-off, several players talked about how they would like to see this format adopted.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Logan Webb told The Athletic's Jayson Stark after the game that he's in a group text with other players who are ready to move forward with the swing-off format.

"Honestly,” Webb said, “I’ve got a group text going with a couple of other players around baseball … and they said that we should never play an extra-inning game again. Just do it like that.”

When the AL tied the game at six in the top of the ninth after trailing 6-0 entering the seventh, the managers for both teams selected three players to take three swings each. The team with the most homers at the end would be declared the winner.

The AL held a 3-1 lead when Schwarber came to the plate. The Phillies slugger hit three homers on each of his three swings to give the NL a 4-3 advantage. Jonathan Aranda of the Tampa Bay Rays was unable to homer with his three swings to give the senior circuit the victory.

New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who would have been the final hitter for the NL if Aranda had tied it or given the AL the lead, sounded in favor of the swing-off going forward.

"That was electric, absolutely electric,” Alonso told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. "That’s money. That’s big time.”

In addition to his group chat vouching for the swing-off, Webb had nothing but praise for what Schwarber did in that moment.

"I told Schwarber afterwards, ‘Dude, you’re just cool.' Every time we face him, I’m like, ‘you’re just a cool dude," Webb said to Rosenthal.

Another Giants pitcher, Robbie Ray, admitted to Rosenthal he initially thought the concept was "weird" before seeing it in execution.

"Standing on the sidelines like that and watching home runs go out of the park," Ray said, "It’s a lot of fun."

Trevor Megill of the Milwaukee Brewers applauded the person who originally came up with the idea when he spoke to Rosenthal: "That was a good idea. Whoever did that, good for them."

Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker enjoyed how into the spectacle everyone on the field and in the stands got as it was going on.

"I looked over and I thought, 'Look at all these grown men acting like kids,'" Snitker told Rosenthal. "I loved it. The fans loved it. The guys had a ball with it."

The swing-off was added to the All-Star Game in the event of a tie at the end of nine innings back in 2022. It was designed to prevent the game from ending in a draw without having to overextend pitchers in an exhibition contest.

Players were chosen basically from a pool of who was still left at the stadium. ESPN's Jeff Passan noted many players who start the game and get pulled simply leave right away to go home to enjoy the remainder of the All-Star break.

Everyone would have loved to see Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge in the swing-off, but Passan pointed out they were both out of the stadium by the time it started.

As for the idea of a swing-off being adopted for the regular season, there are reasons to think it could go either way. The reasons for it being added would be to potentially reduce the time of games that go into extra innings and avoid having to overwork relievers.

MLB has already taken steps to ensure extra-inning games don't take longer by giving teams an automatic runner on second base to start each inning, so it wouldn't be hard to go one step further.

The downside, as San Diego Padres reliever Jason Adam pointed out to Passan, is it would feel like a cheat if a team lost a crucial game late in the season that kept them out of the playoffs in a Home Run Derby contest.

"I don't think I'd like that in-season if we lost on it," Adam said. "But for this setting, it was awesome."

MLB and the MLB Players Association are going to soon begin negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that is expected to be contentious and almost certainly lead to a lockout, so anything both sides can do to generate some good news coming out of it would be a win for everyone.

If they decide to add a swing-off format to the regular season, it's hard to see many people complaining, given how well it worked the first time we saw it in action during the All-Star Game.