I've been lazy with the blog recently, and for those that actually bother to read this thing, I apologize. A lot has gone on in life recently, and time has been limited.
But here I am, and I am sadly here tonight to lament the announced retirement of one of my all-time favorite Yankees, Mariano Rivera.
The past two decades of Yankee baseball have served some of the greatest sports memories of a lifetime, coupled with gifted athletes and personalities. Jeter, Pettitte, Posada, Bernie, Tino, O'Neill, Cone, just to name a few.
But none have had the stature, grace, elegance, and brilliance that Mariano Rivera had.
And other than probably Jeter, none have had the career arc or legacy. No other player than perhaps Babe Ruth had the career arc Rivera had.
And, frankly, no other pitcher in baseball history had the type of career Rivera had.
I never watched Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Sandy Koufax, or Whitey Ford pitch. But in my time watching baseball, I watched some pretty remarkable pitchers. Maddux, Randy Johnson, Pedro, Dennis Eckersley, Roger Clemens pre and post-steroids, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay, and Nolan Ryan come to mind.
All are great pitchers, but none are as great as Rivera, the best of the past 30 years.
Here's why.
- He has appeared in the postseason every year except two (2008, missed playoffs; 2012, knee injury) from 1995 to 2012. He has five World Series titles, plus a World Series MVP. He closed out four of those five World Series, and played a larger role than then-closer John Wetteland in winning the 1996 series. His career postseason ERA is 0.70. That is unfathomably good, but later on, I will provide you a postseason stat that will blow your mind.
-The closer position is by far the most volatile in baseball. In the past 20 years, a handful of closers performed at a dominant level for a 3 to 5 year period. Names like Eric Gagne, Brad Lidge, Francisco Rodriguez, and Joe Nathan come to mind. Trevor Hoffman put up the big save numbers for a long time, but when did he ever save a big game? Rivera dominated the closer's position for nearly two decades, and never had what is considered a "bad" season.
-As a side note, the above starting pitchers from the last 30 years mentioned also did not dominate the sport for 15 years.
-Rivera setting the all-time saves record in 2011 ended any debate as to whom is the best closer of all-time. He has the rings to back it up.
-His cutter is the single most dominant pitch in baseball history. Ask the hundreds of left-handed batters whose bats were destroyed by it. And why is it the most dominant? EVERYONE who stepped in the box knew it was coming. And they still couldn't hit it.
-Name another closer that is a twelve-time all-star.
-Rivera's career survived blowing Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. Every great closer has failed in at least one big moment. Rivera gave up the bloop to Luis Gonzalez, and got better after that. Most careers would die after a failure of that magnitude. He didn't let it affect him.
-Ask yourself one more question: How many World Series do the Yankees win if Mariano Rivera isn't around? My guess is maybe one.
-Now, for the bombshell stat I promised would blow your mind. As mentioned before, Rivera has a career postseason ERA of 0.70. This amounts to 11 runs in 15 postseasons. 12, TWELVE men HAVE WALKED ON THE MOON. Let this sink in for a second. Mariano Rivera has allowed fewer runs in the postseason than men that have walked on the moon.
I rest my case.
Mariano, you will be missed. There will not be a dry eye in Yankee Stadium during your final home game, which I will be gladly attending.
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