Best closing pitchers of all time

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Closers shut the door. The ninth inning is their battleground and they normally come out on top. Yes, there had been closers in the past, but they mostly went 2 or even 3 innings to close the game out. These days, there are a lot of closers getting roughed up early in the season and being replaced by the next man up. I am rating the top 10 all-time closers with a culmination of factors: number of saves, reputation, selection of theme song to enter a game, attitude and appearance, and the downright ability to dominate.

Best closing pitchers of all time

In baseball , a closing pitcher , more frequently referred to as a closer abbreviated CL , is a relief pitcher who specializes in getting the final outs in a close game when his team is leading. The role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. Before the s, pitchers in similar roles were referred to as a fireman , short reliever , and stopper. A small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award. A closer is generally a team's best reliever and designated to pitch the last few outs of games when his team is leading by a margin of three runs or fewer. Rarely does a closer enter with his team losing or in a tie game. The pressure of the last three outs of the game is often cited for the importance attributed to the ninth inning. Closers are often the highest paid relievers on their teams, making money on par with starting pitchers. New York Giants manager John McGraw in was one of the first to use a relief pitcher to save games. He pitched Claude Elliott in relief eight times in his ten appearances. Though saves were not an official statistic until , Elliot was retroactively credited with six saves that season, a record at that time.

December 30, Retrieved September 23, When he came over in the trade, he threw a mids fastball.

In Major League Baseball MLB , the save club is the group of pitchers who have recorded or more regular-season saves in their careers. The final pitcher of a game can earn a save by getting at least one batter out to end the game with the winning run on base , at bat , or on deck , or by pitching the last three innings without relinquishing the lead, regardless of score. Hoyt Wilhelm retired in and recorded just 31 saves from onwards, for example, but holds total career saves. Mariano Rivera holds the MLB save record with Only Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have exceeded or saves, and Hoffman was the first to achieve either. Rollie Fingers was the first player to record saves, reaching the mark on August 21, Aroldis Chapman is the most recent, achieving his th on August 26,

Rivera trails only Trevor Hoffman in all-time saves and has perhaps the most dominant one-pitch arsenal this side of Phil Niekro. He will be gone soon enough, but for now, it isn't hard to find people who believe he is the best closer in baseball history. Of course, it's also not hard to find those who think otherwise. Some think Hoffman, or contemporary Billy Wagner, was as good as Rivera. Some even reject the premise of an argument for Rivera, insisting that guys like Mike Marshall—who frequently pitched three or four innings en route to his saves and racked up many more frames than the modern closers do—were much more valuable.

Best closing pitchers of all time

Once considered an afterthought on MLB rosters, relief pitchers have emerged as some of the most important pieces when constructing a World Series contender. Of these relief pitchers, the closer is the most unique member of an MLB roster. These pitchers are true specialists, only appearing in the most specific of game situations.

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Archived from the original on November 6, From , Wagner's saves were third-most behind Rivera and Hoffman. Retrieved May 27, National Baseball Hall of Fame. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Kimbrel entered the season with Philadelphia — his 14th in the majors — as another active reliever on the doorstep of saves. Retrieved May 6, Entering the season, Papelbon's saves rank 11th all time in MLB history. Despite his 5-foot frame, Wagner overpowered batters with a deadly mph fastball, complementing it with a slider in the highs. September 25, The San Diego Union-Tribune. Lastly, his 2. Wagner is making his ninth appearance on the ballot.

There might not be a more pressure-packed position in all of Major League Baseball than the closer. His time on the diamond is rather brief, but highly crucial.

Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use mdy dates from June A closer is generally a team's best reliever and designated to pitch the last few outs of games when his team is leading by a margin of three runs or fewer. Daily News. But let's dive into how he overpowered hitters at the plate. As late as , a team's ace reliever was called a fireman , [16] coming to the rescue to "put out the fire", baseball terminology for stopping an offensive rally with runners on base. Retrieved 11 November In nine of those seasons, Wagner recorded at least 30 saves,, and his 44 from , with the Houston Astros, were a career high. Retrieved November 3, WS MVP. John Franco in was the first to be used over 50 percent of the time in the beginning of the ninth in a season; [10] he had a then-record 24 one-inning saves. He would return to the closer role and saved 38 games, then recorded a career-high 53 with the Chicago Cubs in Baseball Digest. How many years does a closer need in order to qualify? Sutter Goes To Cooperstown