The news of Mariano Rivera's torn ACL shocked the baseball world more than any other event in recent memory. Perhaps that's because of the perception that Rivera is invincible--he hasn't visited the DL since 2003. But more likely, it's because Rivera commands the respect of the entire sport, something only a few baseball athletes--Cal Ripken, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, etc.--have managed to do. The humility, grace, and class with which he has conducted himself is unique in this day and age of Jonathan Papelbon fist-pumps and choreographed Jose Valverde dances. Appropriately, he will be the last player to ever wear Jackie Robinson's number 42. And oh, by the way, he is quietly one of the best pitchers to ever play the game.
Rivera has dominated his position perhaps more than any other athlete ever has. Relief pitchers have notoriously short shelf lives: a few outstanding seasons, followed by a sharp decline. Yet for Rivera, the start of 2012 represented his 17th consecutive year of completely shutting down opponents. His average season has been 40 saves, an ERA around 2.00, and a WHIP around 1.00...every year since 1996. Perhaps the best statistical way to measure his dominance is ERA+, which adjusts for park and league factors to allow for historical comparisons across different time periods. A 100 ERA+ is average, and each point above (or below) 100 represents 1% better (or worse) than average. Among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, Mariano Rivera is the all-time leader in ERA+ at 206. The next closest player is Pedro Martinez at 154. Rivera was statistically 52% better than every other pitcher, ever.
Even more remarkably, hes achieved all of his success with a single pitch, a cutter so devastatingly good that hitters have no chance against it even though they've known it's coming since 1996. Mariano Rivera does not throw an offspeed pitch. That's completely unheard of in today's game, where pitchers in the very low minors aren't even considered legitimate prospects until they've developed some kind of changeup, or slider, or curve. Yet with his one pitch, Mariano Rivera became so good at his job that he was considered the best closer of all time well before actually breaking the all-time saves record.
Now, being known as "the best closer of all time" is nice, but it's not a huge deal. The roles of 'relief pitcher' and 'closer' are relatively new to baseball. The closer's big statistic, the 'save,' is arbitrary and meaningless compared to milestones like hits and home runs. And the position has a very high attrition rate, further reducing its historical significance. Unsurprisingly, there are only a few guys prolific enough to even be considered along with Rivera for the Best Closer title. Anyway, given the relatively small role of the position (70-80 innings pitched a year), being known as the best closer ever certainly isn't as meaningful as being the best starting pitcher, first baseman, or outfielder.
That's why Rivera should not be known as the best closer of all time. He should be given the far more significant and superior title: the greatest postseason pitcher of all time. The final innings of postseason games feature the toughest competition, the most pressure, and the greatest historical significance in the entire sport. It is baseball's most difficult situation to find success in. Yet somehow, Mariano Rivera became even better in those situations:
Career regular season ERA: 2.21
Career regular season WHIP: 0.99
Career postseason ERA: 0.70
Career postseason WHIP: 0.75
That's the best ERA in postseason history, and third-best WHIP (though the two players ahead of Rivera both threw 100 fewer innings than him). Plus, he has been charged with only one playoff loss and has surrendered just two playoff home runs in his career. And those ridiculous numbers weren't accumulated in tiny sample sizes, either. Rivera threw 141 postseason innings, which is more than other playoff heroes like Curt Schilling and Christy Mathewson, and only five fewer than Whitey Ford. Furthermore, he put up the numbers across sixteen different postseasons. 141 pressure-packed innings in sixteen years against the best competition, and he was unhittable. Out of all the huge moments he's pitched in, we can still count his biggest failures on one hand: Sandy Alomar's home run in the 1997 ALDS, Luis Gonzalez's single in the 2001 World Series, and the two blown saves against Boston in the 2004 ALCS. Those moments have so much historical significance because they were achieved against the invincible Rivera.
Mariano Rivera is likely to return in 2013 as good as ever. His arm is intact. He will refuse to allow a freak ACL tear in Kansas City to be the final chapter in his storied career. But this stunning injury has revealed the true value of Mariano Rivera to his team, to the league, and to baseball history. I hope that before he retires for good, the Yankees play Rivera for an inning in center field in Yankee Stadium, both as a recognition of his outstanding athleticism and as a fitting moment of redemption. That would be an epic celebration of one of the greatest athletes to ever live. He deserves it, because there will never be another Mariano Rivera, the best postseason pitcher of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment