They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. We're not economics experts, but if that's the going exchange rate, a GIF must be worth its weight in gold. So what better way to say one last goodbye to the season than with the very best GIFs it had to offer? Bat flips, outrageous slides, tongue wags -- everything you loved about the last 12 months of baseball is here. Although if we missed any of your favorites, be sure to let us know in the comments.
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Examining Chris Davis' historic start for the Orioles
Over the last 95 years, baseball has had only three different all-time home run kings. Babe Ruth wore the crown from before Hank Aaron took over. Barry Bonds then passed Aaron in
Watch: Chris Davis fouls a ball into his jersey
Dan Wohl of MLB. It's mesmerizing for a variety of reasons, but the most impressive one is the consistency and purity of Davis's swing. You can focus on something different each time the GIF loops around. Watch the variety of directions the ball leaves his bat, watch the variety of pitch locations, pitch types, the variety of pitchers right- and left-handed , deliveries, follow-throughs, ballparks, crowds, advertisements, game situations thanks to the MASN bug , even the array of uniform combinations Davis wears. Yet, even though the camera angles differ, what should be the most violent part of each clip is the most peaceful and consistent -- Davis' swing: a quick turn of the hips and his bat slicing right to and through the ball, his head and body almost perfectly still as they rotate through the pitch, time and again. As with the GIFs we saw earlier this season of Yu Darvish , Justin Verlander , and Miguel Cabrera , it sheds light on the least-appreciated aspect of these players' success: the soundness and consistency of their mechanics. That, more than anything else, is why Davis has gone from being a player the Rangers buried in the minors then traded, to a MVP candidate in the span of just two seasons. No small amount of credit for that should go to Orioles pitching coach Jim Presley, but Davis is still the one who absorbed what Presley taught him and applied it to major league pitching with mesmerizing consistency. Cliff Corcoran breaks down his value. SI All-American.
By: Tim McGarry July 8, pm. First try to find the fastballs on the outside half of the plate. There are at least six. Now find the breaking balls on the inner half.