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, Third Quarter and Fourth Quarter tournaments, now it’s time to crown season’s King of pitching GIFs with the Nastiest Pitching GIFs of 2018. Thirty-two pitches have a shot, but only one will win. (No ties, this isn’t soccer.)
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from the quarterly GIF tournaments from the season.
- 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 Friday morning.
Here are the results for Round #1:
American Bracket
Blake Treinen’s Fastball #1 defeated Blake Treinen’s Fastball #2
Blake Treinen’s Slider #1 defeated Blake Treinen’s Slider #2
Aroldis Chapman’s Fastball defeated Seth Lugo’s Fastball
Trevor Bauer’s Slider defeated Fernando Rodney’s Fastball
Adam Ottavino’s Slider #2 defeated Adam Ottavino’s Slider #1
Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball defeated Justin Verlander’s Curveball
David Robertson’s Curveball defeated Chris Archer’s Slider
Dylan Floro’s Fastball defeated Aaron Nola’s Fastball
National Bracket
Chris Sale’s Fastball defeated Steven Wright’s Knuckleball
Chris Sale’s Slider #1 defeated Chris Sale’s Slider #2
Dylan Maples’ Slider defeated Masahiro Tanaka’s Fastball
Jose Alvarado’s Fastball defeated Lance McCullers’ Fastball
Jose Berrios’ Curveball defeated Zach Britton’s Fastball
Miles Mikolas‘ Curveball defeated Jakob Junis‘ Slider
Chaz Roe’s Slider #1 defeated Chaz Roe’s Slider #2
Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball #2 defeated Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball #1
Here are the results for Round #2:
American Bracket
Blake Treinen’s Fastball #1 defeated Blake Treinen’s Slider #1
Aroldis Chapman’s Fastball defeated Trevor Bauer’s Slider
Adam Ottavino’s Slider #2 defeated Jordan Hicks‘ Fastball
Dylan Floro’s Fastball defeated David Robertson’s Curveball
National Bracket
Chris Sale’s Slider #1 defeated Chris Sale’s Fastball
Dylan Maples’ Slider defeated Jose Alvarado’s Fastball
Jose Berrios’ Curveball defeated Miles Mikolas‘ Curveball
Chaz Roe’s Slider #1 defeated Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball #2
Here are the matchups for Round #3:
American Bracket
Blake Treinen’s Fastball #1 vs. Aroldis Chapman’s Fastball
Adam Ottavino’s Slider #2 vs. Dylan Floro’s Fastball
National Bracket
Chris Sale’s Slider #1 vs. Dylan Maples’ Slider
Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. Chaz Roe’s Slider #1
Watch The GIFs In The Links Below!
Honestly, it kind of looks like Blake Treinen and Aroldis Chapman’s fastball run in the opposite direction. They obviously finish in direct opposite locations, but if they were to actually move in the exact opposite direction, Chapman’s fastball would have to rise. And it kind of looks like it does—which is probably a direct result of watching so many of these GIFS.) That illusion is probably why it blew away Trevor Bauer’s slider last round. But Chapman doesn’t have an easy matchup in Treinen, a.k.a. “The Most GIFable Pitcher of 2018” (which is a really long nickname). You go back even just five years and no one threw a pitch with that kind of sink at 99 MPH.
Blake Treinen’s Fastball #1 vs. Aroldis Chapman’s Fastball
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10194467]
If you watch this Adam Ottavino GIF enough times you’ll see something sticking out of the webbing of his glove. (You only missed it before because this slider is stupid.) Anyways, that thing sticking out is a wand—yes, just like Harry Potter*. At first, you might think this is illegal, but there’s no rule against that in Major League Baseball. Ottavino’s slider going against a Dylan Floro that gave poor Fredy Galvis a sliver of hope. It was legitimately just a sliver. Did you see how he finished that swing? He knew he’d just been punked. At least it wasn’t by Ashton Kutcher. (*There isn’t actually anything sticking out of Ottavino’s glove. Though we still can’t confirm or deny whether or not he uses a wand or any form of wizardry.)
Adam Ottavino’s Slider #2 vs. Dylan Floro’s Fastball
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10194469]
Chris Sale tried a little bit too hard on this slider. Knowing full well that hustling isn’t exactly Manny Machado’s thing, he easily could’ve flipped in a get-me-over slider. But if you’re going to put a punctuation mark on the World Series, you might as well do it in style. In the lone slider v. slider matchup of the round, Sale’s goes against one from Dylan Maples that looks sharper and sharper by the second. Watch it like 25 times in-a-row and you’ll get the idea.
Chris Sale’s Slider #1 vs. Dylan Maples’ Slider
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10194477]
This Jose Berrios curveball is your weekly reminder to never let your child become a catcher. Why in the world would you want to have to handle a pitch like this? Yeah, you can make a ton of money if you’re good at it, but you’re almost certainly going to break your fingers or something. Whereas Chaz Roe’s slider is a reminder of why the Red Sox didn’t bring back “Win, Dance, Repeat,” in 2018. Other guys, like Xander Bogaerts, wanted to get involved and simply didn’t have the same ability.
Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. Chaz Roe’s Slider
VS
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10194478]