Through the playoffs, we’ll be featuring the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and check back after each round to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the Second Half Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Brad Peacock’s Fastballs – It seems like we feature Peacock’s heater every time he throws, but we just can’t resist. He had a pair of fantastic heaters that made our eyes widen, first against Joc Pederson that whipped back over the plate, then later against Clayton Kershaw as the ball started in the middle of the plate before darting off the edge. Nasty every time.
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Lance McCullers’ Curveball – Yes, Cody Bellinger was incredibly susceptible to breaking balls down-and-in all postseason, but that doesn’t make this 88mph hard Knuckle-Curveball any less filthy. Its tight break at a high velocity means Bellinger would have been far from the only batter to chase this pitch.
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Clayton Kershaw’s Slider – Kershaw was called upon despite two days rest and gave four shutout innings for the Dodgers, giving them a chance to battle back into Game 7. His Slider was working like in the opening game of the series, and used it to take out Brian McCann in the fourth.
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Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball – Then there’s also Kershaw’s trademark deuce, which just couldn’t sit out the final game of the year. Our favorite of the bunch was this looper to Yuli Gurriel that elegantly fell in for a strike despite starting at Gurriel’s eyes.
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Charlie Morton’s Changeup – This was a remarkable pitch from Morton, even if it isn’t as flashy as the rest. He had only thrown one other Split-Changeup in his appearance – the pitch before – and he had the brass to not only double down, but locate just far enough inside to avoid the danger zone of Chris Taylor. Perfect execution, admirable courage, and the best “pitcher’s pitch” of the night.
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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