In the spirit of March Madness, below is a 64-person, single elimination tournament between the 64 most valuable pitchers in the MLB based on Fangraph’s WAR. Each individual seeding was randomly generated, and winner is noted in bold.
Round 1
Game 1, 1 vs. 64: Jake Arrieta vs. James Paxton
Game 2, 32 vs. 33: Yu Darvish vs. Zack Greinke
Game 3, 16 vs. 49: Gio Gonzalez vs. Jon Lester
Game 4, 17 vs. 48: Jameson Taillon vs. Stephen Strasburg
Game 5, 8 vs. 57: Ervin Santana vs. Charlie Morton
Game 6, 25 vs. 40: Corey Kluber vs. Drew Pomeranz
Game 7, 9 vs. 56: Dallas Keuchelvs. Gerrit Cole
Game 8, 24 vs. 41: Kenley Jansen vs. Masahiro Tanaka
Game 9, 4 vs. 61: Brandon McCarthy vs. Marcus Stroman
Game 10, 29 vs. 36: Patrick Corbin vs. Michael Wacha
Game 11, 13 vs. 52: J.A. Happ vs. Roberto Osuna
Game 12, 20 vs. 45: Jeff Samardzija vs. Aaron Nola
Game 13, 5 vs. 60: Dylan Bundy vs. Zach Davies
Game 14, 28 vs. 37: German Marquez vs. Kevin Gausman
Game 15, 12 vs. 53: Danny Duffy vs. Tanner Roark
Game 16, 21 vs. 44: Brad Peacock vs. Chris Archer
Game 17, 2 vs. 63: Lance McCullers vs. Alex Wood
Game 18, 31 vs. 34: Chris Sale vs. Alex Cobb
Game 19, 15 vs. 50: Taijuan Walker vs. Clayton Kershaw
Game 20, 18 vs. 47: Robbie Ray vs. Trevor Bauer
Game 21, 18 vs. 47: Jose Quintana vs. Jordan Montgomery
Game 22, 26 vs. 39: Pat Neshek vs. Chad Green
Game 23 10 vs. 55: Jimmy Nelson vs. Michael Fulmer
Game 24, 23 vs. 42: Mike Leake vs. Jacob deGrom
Game 25, 3 vs. 62:Carlos Carrasco vs. Carlos Martinez
Game 26, 30 vs. 35: Zack Godley vs. Luis Severino
Game 27, 14 vs. 51: Sonny Gray vs. Max Scherzer
Game 28, 19 vs. 46: Kyle Hendricks vs. Marco Estrada
Game 29, 6 vs. 59: Corey Knebel vs. Craig Kimbrel
Game 30, 27 vs. 38: Jon Gray vs. Chase Anderson
Game 31, 11 vs. 54: Rich Hill vs. Jose Berrios
Game 32, 23 vs. 43: Justin Verlander vs. Andrew Miller
Round 2
Game 33, 1 vs. 33: Jake Arrieta vs. Zack Greinke
Game 34, 49 vs. 48: Jon Lester vs. Stephen Strasburg
Game 35, 8 vs. 25: Ervin Santana vs. Corey Kluber
Game 36, 9 vs. 24: Dallas Keuchelvs. Ervin Santana
Game 37, 61 vs. 29: Marcus Stroman vs. Patrick Corbin
Game 38, 52 vs. 45: Roberto Osuna vs. Aaron Nola
Game 39, 60 vs. 37: Zach Davies vs. Kevin Gausman
Game 40, 12 vs. 44: Danny Duffy vs. Chris Archer
Game 41, 2 vs. 31: Lance McCullers vs. Chris Sale
Game 42, 50 vs. 18: Clayton Kershaw vs. Robbie Ray
Game 43, 7 vs. 39: Jose Quintana vs. Chad Green
Game 44, 10 vs. 42: Jimmy Nelson vs. Jacob deGrom
Game 45, 3 vs. 35: Carlos Carrasco vs. Luis Severino
Game 46, 51 vs. 19: Max Scherzer vs. Kyle Hendricks
Game 47, 59 vs. 38: Craig Kimbrel vs. Chase Anderson
Game 48, 11 vs. 22: Rich Hill vs. Justin Verlander
Round 3
Game 49, 33 vs. 48: Zack Greinke vs. Stephen Strasburg
Game 50, 25 vs. 9:Corey Kluber vs. Dallas Keuchel
Game 51, 61 vs. 45: Marcus Stroman vs. Aaron Nola
Game 52, 60 vs. 44: Zach Davies vs. Chris Archer
Game 53, 31 vs. 50: Chris Sale vs. Clayton Kershaw
Game 54, 7 vs. 42: Jose Quintana vs. Jacob deGrom
Game 55, 3 vs. 51: Carlos Carrasco vs. Max Scherzer
Game 56, 59 vs. 22: Craig Kimbrel vs. Justin Verlander
Round 4
Game 57, 48 vs. 25: Stephen Strasburg vs. Corey Kluber
Game 58, 61 vs. 44: Marcus Stroman vs. Chris Archer
Game 59, 50 vs. 42: Clayton Kershaw vs. Jacob deGrom
Game 60, 51 vs. 22: Max Scherzer vs. Justin Verlander
Semifinals
Game 61, 25 vs. 44: Corey Klubervs. Chris Archer
Game 62, 50 vs. 51: Clayton Kershaw vs. Max Scherzer
Finals
Game 63, 25 vs. 51: Corey Kluber vs. Max Scherzer
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Max Scherzer beat his fellow reigning Cy Young Award winner in the championship after going through Sonny Gray, Kyle Hendricks, Carlos Carrasco, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw.
