The Closer Position in baseball is one of the most unique, most difficult positions in all of sports. Its not for the faint of heart, its a pressure-packed position that many Relievers have tried and very few have excelled at, and for good reason, unlike in other sports were the great closers have help, Kobe is by far the greatest closer in the NBA, but if he sees a defense he doesn't like he can pass the ball to Derek Fisher, Peyton Manning is one of the best closers in the NFL, if he sees a defensive package he doesn't like he can call an audible and hand the ball off, these great closers have help if they need it. Such really can't be said about the closer position in baseball, sure they have a catcher and 7 other fielders, but the closer is the only one throwing the pitch, and based off of the pitch they throw will control the outcome of the game, its one man facing the other teams last effort to win the game, and more times than not, the opponents rarely go down without a fight.
There have been Closers in baseball in the past, there will be closers in the future, but Mariano Rivera is hands-down the greatest closer in Baseball history, and it ain't even close. That was a statement that up until yesterday could have caused a minor controversy, while 99% of baseball fans would agree with Rivera as the greatest closer of all-time, baseball more than any other game is a numbers game, and as great as Rivera has been Regular Season and Post Season, one thing he wasn't was the all-time leader in Saves, that is until yesterday afternoon when Rivera recorded Save number 602 against the Twins, passing long-time Padre Trevor Hoffman for the record, a record few people thought Rivera would never break.
Rivera is a career Yankee, his career started in 1995 as a starter, but it wasn't until 1996 when he became the primary set-up man for John Wetteland that his career began to take shape. Rivera and Wetteland were a key to why the Yankees won the World Series in 1996 against the Braves. In 1997 the Yankees allowed Wetteland to become a free agent, setting the stage for Rivera to become the Closer, his first year was a little rocky, he would be a big reason why the Yankees lost the ALDS to the Cleveland Indians, but what would follow in 98, 99, and 2000 (especially in the Post Season) would be one of the greatest displays of pitching, starting or relieving in MLB History, he was dominate, so much so that teams changed their game, instead of planning a 9 inning game, several teams played as if the game were 7 innings, Mariano was that dominate that he was seen as automatic, lots of teams during that stretch almost looked like they had given up after he would come in.
In 2001 Rivera would have another colossal blown save in Game 7 of the World Series, costing the Yankees their fourth straight World Series title. In 2004 in Game 4 of the ALCS against the rival Red Sox Rivera had arguably the biggest blown save in history, with the Yanks up 3-0 in the best out of 7 series, Rivera would come in, in the ninth and allow the tying run to score, the Yanks would lose that game, and eventually lose that series, becoming the first team in Baseball history to blow a 3-0 series lead.
It was around that time when people started to question Rivera and if he could continue as the dominate closer he'd been since 1998, there were a lot of people that thought maybe Rivera was done, and if you read the paper or listened to sports talk radio in New York people were throwing out names like Tanyon Sturtze as a possible Err to the Throne. As a result of just how dominate he was from his stretch from 1998-2004 a lot of people would call him the greatest closer of all-time, but at the time, no one felt like he would pass Hoffman for the all-time Save record. Rivera however would go on to surprise everyone by having excellent years from 2005-2008, and he was as big a reason as anyone else on the team why the Yankees won the World Series in 2009, even now in 2011 he is by far the most dominate closer in the game, so much that, when people talk about Rivera they always talk about 97 in the ALDS, 2001 in the World Series, or 2004 in the ALCS, why? Because there is nothing else to talk about, outside of those 3 exceptions, he has been practically flawless, and how much fun is it talking about flawless athletes.
One of the most remarkable things about Rivera is he's been the most dominate closer of all-time, he is now officially the Best Closer of all-time, and he's done it all with just one pitch, the Cut-Fastball. Every batter knows what they are going to see, they are going to see nothing but cutters there is just no way to hit it.
There are several records that I'm fully sure will be broken, the single season homerun record I'm sure will be broken, same thing for the career homerun record, but there are some records I don't see anyone breaking, like Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak will never be touched, Cal Ripken Jr's Consecutive Games Streak of 2632 will never be broken, and I'm convinced that River's new record of 602 Career Saves will never be broken. Every season there is some new hot Closer that people are Sure will be the "Next Big Thing" from Brad Lidge, to Joe Nathan, K-Rod, Papelbon, etc. every year the experts want to say Rivera is done, but this new young closer will be the next big thing. What ends up happening is said closer ends up succumbing to the pressure of the position, which has happened often, or more often than not, the closer blows there arm out, most closers throw blazing fast balls, very few closers pitch using deception, that is more of a trait of starting pitchers, but that was one of the keys why Hoffman was such a success as a closer, he pitched like a starter, using deception, throwing a fast ball not much faster than 88mph and a change-up using the exact same arm motion about 78mph, throwing that speed won't burn someone's arm out, outside of Rivera and Hoffman, the career expectancy of a closer these days isn't very long, something I don't see changing in this Win-Now game, which makes me think this is another record that will stand.
Rivera didn't need this record to be considered the best closer of all-time, almost everyone was in agreement of that already, his post season dominance and his success with one pitch is more of a reason why people considered him the best, however in a game that loves its number having the all-time saves record won't hurt his case, but it has opened a whole other can of worms as people are beginning to ask is he the Greatest Pitcher of All-Time? That I can't answer, but he's definitely in the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment