Seattle Mariners and the death of the traditional closer
Chris Phillips
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According to Baseball-Reference, the league average MLB team had 40 saves. An important note is this is for a team and not a player. In 2021, 16 teams saved 40 games or more. Three teams came one save away from reaching that total. Also, there were 39 relief pitchers who earned 10 saves.
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the league average saves for an MLB team was 14. There were 15 teams that saved 14 or more games. Also, there were 10 relievers who earned 10 saves or more. Finally, going back to 2019, the league average for saves was 37 and there were 15 teams who achieved that mark or more. Maybe more interesting is the fact that 37 relief pitchers earned 10 saves or more.
So, what do we make of this data? There are some interesting notes. The last three World Series champions convert around 60 percent of their save opportunities, feature one dominant guy as the team’s closer and only allow on average five guys to earn a save. Circling back to Tampa Bay, over the last three years, they’re converted on average 67 percent of the games that they had a save opportunity. Over that same time frame, 37 different Rays’ relievers earned at least one save. Subsequently, that is the most by a team that has been above league average in saves.
In that time frame, Tampa Bay is averaging 78.7 wins and 49.3 losses. The Rays went to the playoffs all three times, winning two division titles and getting to the World Series once. So, this formula works.