The 2025 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night featured the first-ever “swing-off” to determine a winner between the American and National League teams, which was in large part received in an overwhelmingly positive light. And according to WFAN host Shaun Morash, the positive reaction may even be enough to be a full-time fixture in baseball.
The extra-innings twist has been in place since 2022, but was finally needed in this year’s All-Star Game after the American League scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to force the swing-off in what would have been a tenth inning.
Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber stole the show in the swing-off, hitting home runs on all three of his swings to help give the National League the All-Star Game victory.
Filling in for Evan Roberts on Evan & Tiki, Morash shared his opinion on the first look at the swing-off, calling it a “win for Major League Baseball” considering the attention it helped bring to the game. Interestingly, Tiki Barber instantly shared how he believed that the rule would “never come” to the regular season.
“Last night is a win for Major League Baseball,” said Morash. “Because it is a sport that doesn’t do enough to garner national attention and national recognition. It was a win because they had something kooky happen at the end of the game that not left people wondering…”
“It’s never coming to Major League Baseball,” said Tiki Barber as he cut off Morash. “It’s just going to be an All-Star thing. There’s no way that will ever happen in a regular season game at all. I know it shortens games. It’s actually fun. It’s quick. Get it over with. Let’s go, perform on the moment. But that is never going to happen in a regular season game. Do you know why? Because history is too important to baseball geeks. Evan Roberts would come home if he heard that this was going to be a part of Major League Baseball moving forward.
Morash vehemently disagreed with Barber’s assessment, saying that he believes that the swing-off is “absolutely coming to the regular season” thanks to the overwhelmingly positive reaction that the moment received.
“It’s not a matter of whether I want this to happen or won’t it happen. I’m here to tell you this is absolutely coming to the regular season. Baseball was happy that it went to a swing off because the good test balloon is how did the fans react? For an event that basically didn’t have the star power late, fans loved it. People are talking about baseball.
“If you were to tell us 15-20 years ago, we would be having runners put on second base in extra innings in Major League Baseball, purists and everybody alike would have yelled and screamed, ‘What are you talking about? Baseball will never do that.’ And for anybody that says, ‘Well, games are determined by one or two games in the standings, you can’t be doing that.’ I would say nonsense. You’re already putting a runner on second base. It’s not real baseball. This, after what we saw last night, is coming to the regular season.
“Everything is a test balloon. The ABS system, we’re going to talk about that later on, test balloon. Runner on second, the pandemic, all that stuff, test balloon. The swing-off last night, Major League Baseball had this rule for seven years, they finally got it. And if you don’t like it and don’t want it in the regular season, guess what? Your positive reaction that everybody had last night. You are gonna be partially to blame.”
Interestingly, Morash is not alone in his opinion that the move will be coming to regular season baseball sooner rather than later. ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser similarly outlined how he thinks the swing-off could be coming to regular season baseball within the next two years.
Baseball has always been a game built on tradition. But in recent years, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has shown to be unafraid to embrace change in the game. So it will certainly be interesting to see whether this buzz around the swing-off format sticks in years to come.