Update: voting in the 2020 Pitching Grade Challenge has now concluded. Stay tuned for results!!
Hey APBA Fans,
The 2020 MLB regular season is over. And what a season it was! The APBA Blog is excited to announce the 2020 APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge! This will be the third year in a row we have conducted this contest and we’re looking forward to this!
What is the APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge?
Quite simply, the Challenge is your chance to enter a contest and see how good you are at guessing what grade APBA will give the pitchers of 2020. I have chosen twenty starting pitchers from the 2020 season and you will vote on what grade each one will receive on their 2020 APBA card.
In 2018, 121 readers participated, Jesse Elicker was the clear winner, guessing 19 of the 20 pitchers. You can see the results here. Last year, it was a tight race. Two APBA fans, Joe Deauseault and Darren Schulz were correct on 19 of 20 while nine more got 18 right.
The best part? Aside from the admiration of fellow APBA fans, the winner of the 2020 Pitching Grade Challenge will receive a prize from the APBA Game Company!
So, let’s move on to the 2020 APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge…
Here’s how the Pitching Grade Challenge works
I have chosen 20 starting pitchers from 2020. Via a web form, you will be able to guess which grade each pitcher will receive in the upcoming set.
Here are some rules and clarifications:
- The Challenge is scheduled to end on November 22nd at 11:59pm.
- One entry per person, please.
- I am only looking for the letter grade for each pitcher and not strikeout or control ratings.
- If a pitcher receives a grade as a starter and reliever (split grade) or is graded strictly as a reliever, that pitcher will be dropped from the contest results.
- If a pitcher receives an A&C or an A&B grade, he will be considered an A for the sake of this Challenge.
- If there is a tie for the most correct guesses, I will place the names of those top entrants in a ball cap and pick the winner.
- While I will eventually post an analysis of the aggregate data, I will not publicly post your guesses without your permission. Your email address remains private and is only used to contact you in case you are the winner.
- Employees of the APBA Games Company are ineligible (for obvious reasons).
While I am not officially entering the contest, I will be making my own guesses for kicks and giggles. I’ll post my ballot publicly once the deadline has passed.
Thanks to John Herson and the APBA Company for donating the Grand Prize for the winner. This has always been a fun event in the fall and I appreciate his contribution! The person who has the most correct guesses will win one free season on APBA GO!
Thanks also to those responsible for the APBA Journal Pitching Grade Contest back in the day. It was a inspiration for this effort.
Click the red button to enter the 2020 APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge!
Good luck to everyone!!
