We’ve seen incredible pitches across the baseball season, and you’ve been voting every day for your favorite pitches. We held the Nastiest Pitching GIFs of the First Quarter and Second Quarter tournaments, and it’s time to crown another king of pitching GIFs with the Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Third Quarter. Sixteen pitches will enter, who will win?
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from the six GIF of the Week competitions across weeks 13 and 18 of the baseball season.
- Every winner was granted an automatic bid, with the extra slots being hand selected by the staff across all Nastiest Pitches articles.
- There was one instance of a pitcher having two eligible pitches of the same type (Jakob Junis‘ slider) and we held a vote on Twitter to determine the pitch’s champion for the tournament.
- Votes will last until 12:00am EST the following morning, with the next round starting at 9:00am every morning and final round beginning on Monday morning.
- The excellent Michael Haas has created a gorgeous bracket of all 16 pitches, with secondary pitches and fastballs each receiving #1-#8 seeds.
Here were the results from Round #1:
Fastballs
#1 Masahiro Tanaka‘s Fastball defeated #8 Corey Kluber‘s Fastball
#2 Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball defeated #7 Jeremy Jeffress‘ Fastball
#3 Blake Treinen‘s Fastball defeated #6 Aaron Nola‘s Fastball
#5 Chris Sale‘s Fastball defeated #4 Dylan Floro‘s Fastball
Secondary Pitches
#1 Chris Sale‘s Slider defeated #8 Max Scherzer‘s Changeup
#2 Jakob Junis‘ Slider defeated #7 Steve Cishek‘s Slider
#3 Blake Treinen‘s Slider defeated #6 Trevor Bauer‘s Curveball
#4 Miles Mikolas‘ Curveball defeated #5 Chris Archer‘s Slider
Here’s the bracket for Round #2:
Watch The GIFs In The Links Below!
It’s no surprise that Masahiro Tanaka survived for another day with his banana curling heater, though it wasn’t such an easy path for Chris Sale as he overcame a wicked sinker from Dylan Floro. Today we’re given a matchup of two wildly different fastballs – one with unreal movement and the other painted perfectly. Both are masters of command, but only one can get your vote.
Masahiro Tanaka‘s Fastball vs. Chris Sale‘s Fastball
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
Once again, he have Blake Treinen making a run at a GIF Tournament crown with one of his fastballs. It’s hard to deny a 99mph heater with this much sink, but Jordan Hicks may have something to say about it. Here he commanded 103mph with life as it fell to the down-and-away corner of the zone elegantly. It’s not as drastic of break, but with higher velocity it just might have a shot at knocking out a GIF Tournament legend.
Blake Treinen‘s Fastball vs. Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
This tournament alone should be enough to understand why Chris Sale is an ace as he gets a second shot at the crown with his unreal slider bending from one side of the plate to the back of the batter’s box in an impossible pitch to hit. Meanwhile, Miles Mikolas showcases a ridiculous hook that falls from “nose to toes” that we simply can’t stop watching. Two breakers mesmorize, one will survive.
Chris Sale‘s Slider vs. Miles Mikolas‘ Curveball
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Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
Yes, it’s another Blake Treinen pitch and of course it comes with ridiculous movement. It barely edged out Trevor Bauer‘s curveball in a last-minute surge, but it may not last into the semi-finals as Jakob Junis has some filth of his own. There’s little more demoralizing than striking out on a pitch that hits you. Both induced horrible swings, but only one can take a step forward to tomorrow’s vote.
Jakob Junis‘ 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!