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MLB Tickets - Top 5 Closers

Filed Under Baseball 

In a series of articles, I’d like to take a look at the top five players in baseball at each individual position. Closer is an underrated position that doesn’t sell a ton of MLB tickets, but having a guy to slam the door in the ninth vastly changes a team’s approach. Here are the five closers that I think are the best in the game. (These rankings are based on who I would want on my team for the 2009 MLB season only.)

1. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees: In my opinion, he’s unquestionably the best closer in the history of the game, and he’s still getting it done. Rivera bounced back from a subpar 2007 season with a stellar campaign in 2008. He struck out 77 batters in about 71 innings and notched a 1.40 ERA. He may not have the same stuff that once shattered bats and embarrassed hitters, but he still knows how to get easy outs and he knows how to do it quickly. If there is any one closer that I would want in the most pressure-packed situation, it would be Rivera.

2. Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins: Nathan never seems to get the credit he deserves. Perhaps it’s because he’s pitching in Minnesota and guys like Rivera and Jonathan Papelbon are pitching in major markets, but one could argue that Nathan has been better than either of those guys for the past few seasons. Last year he led all closers with a 1.33 ERA and has notched an ERA under 2.00 and 35-plus saves in each of the last three years. He’s as reliable as they come and doesn’t need a lot of fanfare to bring his best every time he hits the mound.

3. Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox: Heading into last season, Papelbon would have headed up this list, but following two dominant seasons as Boston’s closer Papelbon didn’t look as unstoppable last season. His ERA has gone from 0.92 to 1.85 to 2.34 in his three years manning the ninth inning. A 2.34 ERA and 41 saves are still great, though. He’s as intense as they come on the mound and the intimidation factor is definitely there, but if his earned runs numbers continue their upward trend he’ll lose some of that. He’s definitely a top-of-the-line closer, though, and just about any team would love to have him.

4. Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals: The only thing holding me back from putting Soria higher on this list is that he’s only closed for one full season. In the one season he did close, though, he was phenomenal. He’s only 24 years old and he’s already got a 42-save season under his belt, one in which his ERA was a miniscule 1.60. It will be interesting to see how he follows up his breakout season, but if I were building a team for the future, he might be on the top of my closers list.

5. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies: I have to admit it; I gave up on Brad Lidge. Lidge had all kinds of issues following Albert Pujols’ famed moon shot in the NLCS a few years back. But Lidge bounced back and helped the Phillies to a World Series victory last season. Lidge saved 42 games with a 1.95 ERA in 2008 and showed that he can handle pressure-packed situations regardless of his past.

This article was sponsored by StubHub, one of the finest places in the entire world wide web to get MLB tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets, special events tickets, or almost any kind of sports ticket out there.

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