It's time for Round 2 in our quest to discover which starter has the best pitch in baseball

We began Wednesday morning with eight pitchers and one goal: to find the starter with the nastiest pitch in Major League Baseball. The competition was divided into four categories -- fastball, curveball, slider, changeup -- each with two nominees. And now, after 24 hours of voting, we're down to four -- the very best of each offering, now going head-to-head.
Max Scherzer's fastball vs. Clayton Kershaw's curveball
When you knock off the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner in Round 1, you're doing something right. Armed with his mid-90s fastball, Scherzer is a strikeout monster: Beyond tying the Major League record with 20 Ks in a single-game, Scherzer has four 15-plus strikeout games. Not only is that a tie for 11th all-time, but the closest active pitcher? Kershaw, Chris Sale and Jake Peavy, who each have two.

Kershaw has an argument for every single one of his pitches to be in this tournament, even though he's currently on the DL. In the end, we had to go with his looping curveball that Vin Scully once called "Public Enemy No. 1." Honestly, once batters see the ball looping up and then coming crashing back down to the Earth, they might as well want to give up.

.@Max_Scherzer's 🔥🔥 squares off against @ClaytonKersh22's curve.

Who do you have moving on to the finals?

— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 25, 2016

Chris Sale's slider vs. Félix Hernández's changeup
Sale doesn't have the overpowering velocity of his Round 1 opponent, Noah Syndergaard, but his impressive lateral sweeping movement got the nod. The lefty's slider travels across the zone as if it were guided by the hand of fate, with batters left doing their best David Byrne impression as they ask, "How did that get there?"

While King Felix's fastball may not have the same mid-90s heat it once had, that hasn't sapped the life out of his diving changeup. The pitch was already a strange case since it's nearly the same velocity as his heater, but batters are still are baffled by it when the bottom drops out.

The second semifinal features @RealKingFelix's changeup & Chris Sale's slider.

Who are you sending to the finals?

— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 25, 2016