This September was a big one for pitchers. Justin Verlander threw his third career no-no and hit 3,000 strikeouts for his career. His teammate Gerrit Cole also finished the year above 300 strikeouts and ended with the highest K/9 in a season in the history of the game. And that’s without mentioning other pitchers who are starting to come to full form. Most importantly, some absurd GIFs emerged in September. So ridiculous that the list of honorable mentions from this month probably would have made most other tournaments in the past. Now it’s time to crown the best pitching GIF of them all from September 2019.
The best 16 have been pulled aside and ranked. On Tuesday, we cut that number in half. Yesterday, the field was whittled down to four. Now it’s on you, the voter, to decide which stands above the rest.
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from September 2019.
- You can only vote on a matchup once, so make sure you pick the one you absolutely want.
- Voting will continue until 12:00 a.m. EDT the following morning. This is the semifinal round.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
Here are the results from Round 1:
American Bracket
8. Jason Adam’s Curveball defeated 1. Brad Wieck’s Curveball
2. Brusdar Graterol’s Sinker defeated 7. Sandy Alcantara’s Sinker
3. Jose Berrios’ Curveball defeated 6. Justin Verlander’s Fastball
5. Gerrit Cole’s Slider defeated 4. Gerrit Cole’s Fastball
National Bracket
1. Yu Darvish’s Slider defeated 8. Josh Hader’s Slider
7. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup defeated 2. Rich Hill’s Curveball
6. Anthony Kay’s Curveball defeated 3. Chaz Roe’s Slider
4. Trevor Bauer’s Two-Seamer defeated 5. Max Fried’s Curveball
Here are the Round 2 results:
American Bracket
8. Jason Adam’s Curveball defeated 5. Gerrit Cole’s Slider
3. Jose Berrios’ Curveball defeated 2. Brusdar Graterol’s Sinker
National Bracket
1. Yu Darvish’s Slider defeated 4. Trevor Bauer’s Two-Seamer
7. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup defeated 6. Anthony Kay’s Curveball
And here are the matchups for the semifinals:
American Bracket
3. Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. 8. Jason Adam’s Curveball
National Bracket
1. Yu Darvish’s Slider vs. 7. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup
Watch the GIFs in the Links Below!
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. Jason Adam’s Curveball
Our first semifinal matchup features two deadly curveballs. First off, we have Jose Berrios‘ filthy hook, which starts off on the center of the plate and runs in before Mitch Garver catches it behind Matt Skole‘s back leg. On the other side of this vote is our ultimate underdog, Jason Adam, whose own breaking ball freezes his opponent as it paints the upper inside corner. Both of these guys showcased some elite stuff, but only one can advance to our finals tomorrow. So who will it be?
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10423509]
Yu Darvish’s Slider vs. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup
This matchup pits one of our biggest underdogs of the tournament against our undisputed favorite. Yu Darvish‘s absurd slider speaks for itself and needs no introduction. If you’ve seen it already, you know it has dominated both of its opponents in the first two rounds. But perhaps that will change in our semis. Stephen Strasburg has already upset two great pitches with his sharp changeup that darts down and out of the zone to induce a swinging strike from Andrew Knapp. But still the question remains for Strasburg: Can he continue his streak of upsets? Or is Darvish just an unstoppable force?
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10423510]