There were some ridiculous pitches throughout the baseball season, and you’ve been voting every day for your favorite pitches. We held the Nastiest Pitching GIFs of the First Quarter, Second Quarter, and Third Quarter tournaments and it’s time to crown another king of pitching GIFs with the Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Fourth Quarter. Sixteen pitches entered, now only eight remain, who will win?
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from the GIF of the Week competitions across weeks 19-24 to end the regular season plus the four weeks of the Postseason.
- Every winner was granted an automatic bid, with the extra slots being hand selected by the staff across all Nastiest Pitches articles.
- Votes will last until 12:00 a.m. EST the following morning, with the next round starting at 9:00 a.m. every morning and final round beginning on Monday morning.
- The excellent Justin Paradis has created a gorgeous bracket of all 16 pitches, with secondary pitches and fastballs broken up into two brackets, with #1-8 seeds.
Here are the results from Round #1:
American Bracket
#1 Aaron Nola’s Fastball defeated #8 Alex Cobb’s Splitter
#2 Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball defeated #7 Nathan Eovaldi‘ Cutter
#3 Zach Britton’s Fastball defeated #6 Rick Porcello’s Fastball
#4 Michael Kopech’s Changeup defeated #5 Dallas Keuchel’s Changeup
National Bracket
#1 Chris Sale’s Slider defeated #8 Corey Knebel’s Curveball
#2 Dylan Maples’ Slider defeated #7 Aaron Nola’s Curveball
#3 Adam Ottavino’s Slider defeated #6 Taylor Rogers‘ Curveball
#5 Blake Treinen’s Slider defeated #4 Chaz Roe’s Slider
Here are the matchups for Round #2:
American Bracket
#1 Aaron Nola’s Fastball vs. #4 Michael Kopech’s Changeup
#2 Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball vs.#3 Zach Britton’s Fastball
National Bracket
#1 Chris Sale’s Slider vs.#5 Blake Treinen’s Slider
#2 Dylan Maples’ Slider vs.#3 Adam Ottavino’s Slider
Watch The GIFs In The Links Below!
Aaron Nola’s fastball was almost upset in the first round, but now has a dance with Michael Kopech’s changeup. Someday these two may go toe-to-toe for real, as the two best in the game, but for now, you’ll have to settle for the GIF face-off. But hey, everyone has to get their start somewhere. Pretty sure this is the exact way Major League Baseball figured out whether it’d be called the Cy Young Award or the Walter Johnson Award. Can you imagine if the voting went differently? Never take the power you have lightly! Choose wisely.
Aaron Nola’s Fastball vs. Michael Kopech’s Changeup
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10188404]
Blake Treinean’s slider was the lone upset from the first round, upending a Chaz Roe slider. It wasn’t exactly an easy matchup, but things only get harder for 2018’s most GIFable pitcher (he edged out Ryan Reynolds, who somehow was nominated as most GIFable pitcher in 2018, in addition to being nominated for a Grammy, despite being neither being a pitcher or singer). Treinen now goes toe-to-toe with the one pitch that’s guaranteed to live on forever from this list, regardless of whether or not it wins: Chris Sale’s slider to strike out Manny Machado and win the World Series. It’s not my job to tell you who to vote for, but I will say I’ll be thoroughly stunned if this is close. But feel free to vote for whichever pitch you want! Just be sure to consider this: what side of history do you want to be on, the right side or the wrong one?
Chris Sale’s Slider vs. Blake Treinen’s Slider
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10188407]
You know what’s kind of weird? If you threw Jordan Hicks‘ fastball and followed it up with Zach Britton’s fastball, the latter would serve as a very effective changeup. Even the movement on Britton’s fastball is more akin to a changeup than a fastball. Not that, that should hurt Britton’s chances in this matchup. It’s not his fault he has inferior genetics (as compared to Hicks’, of course.)
Jordan Hicks’ Fastball vs. Zach Britton’s Fastball
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10188411]
Adam Ottavino was sharing his slider grip with the world over on MLB Network recently. For the people who try it at home, if 100,000 of you give it a shot, I’ll be blown away if one of you can ever replicate this pitch, specifically. Now, it does go against a slightly higher-ranked Dylan Maples slider, but this comes down more to what you want your slider to look like. One generates a monster swing-and-miss, the other one led to what was probably Dansby Swanson’s worst swing of his life to date. Both are unhittable.
Dylan Maples’ Slider vs. Adam Ottavino’s Slider
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10188412]