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 four are left, 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 will begin on Friday 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 results from Round #2:
American Bracket
#1 Aaron Nola’s Fastball defeated #4 Michael Kopech’s Changeup
#2 Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball defeated #3 Zach Britton’s Fastball
National Bracket
#1 Chris Sale’s Slider defeated #5 Blake Treinen’s Slider
#3 Adam Ottavino’s Slider defeated #2 Dylan Maples’ Slider
Here are the matchups for Round #3:
American Bracket
#1 Aaron Nola’s Fastball vs.#2 Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball
National Bracket
#1 Chris Sale’s Slider vs.#3 Adam Ottavino’s Slider
Watch The GIFs In The Links Below!
It all comes down to this, the final fastball battle of 2018. And we’ve got two juggernauts battling things out. Jordan Hicks‘ is all about sheer power and force. It’s got some nice bite to it at the end, but the 102 MPH attached to it is what’s carried this one to the finals. Aaron Nola’s fastball is almost the opposite. This Nola fastball is 12 MPH slower than Hicks’, but has some insane movement. Nola’s fastball behind just like a car heading towards a pothole you don’t see until the last possible minute and (hopefully) narrowly avoid. Whereas Hicks’ is more like “I’m going as fast as I can and hope I blow right over this thing.” One approach is more effective than others, and just as one of these two pitches is better than the other.
Aaron Nola’s Fastball vs. Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10189408]
Adam Ottavino’s slider not only pulled off an upset in the second round, it blew past Dylan Maples’ slider. Now it has to go against what’s probably the most memorable pitch from 2018 (and officially the unofficial No. 1 overall seed) Chris Sale’s slider to end the World Series. At this point, it’s not about which is better between these two pitches. That’s too hard to tell. Ask yourself this: Whose swing-and-miss do I enjoy more? Manny Machado’s ugly hack while falling to a knee just days after saying he’s not going to hustle in the World Series or Dansby Swanson’s flail that he wanted to take back pretty much one-tenth of the way through his swing. Still not an easy question to answer, but that should help.
Chris Sale’s Slider vs. Adam Ottavino’s Slider
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10189409]