Mariano Rivera vs Trevor Hoffman
Rivera and Hoffman are considered the two greatest closers of all-time. Playing in the spotlight of New York, Rivera is a household name. This does not, however, preclude him from being considered anything other than brilliant.
Mariano looked poised to be the ‘Yanks setup man for years to come. When he surfaced in the ‘Bigs they already had established closer Tom Wetteland. Wetteland was signed by the Texas Rangers in the ‘96/’97 off-season, and Rivera inherited the role as closer. All Rivera has done since then is reel off eight 40+ save years with ten sub 2.00 E.R.A campaigns (a possible 11th this campaign). What makes Rivera truly special has been his performance in the Post-Season as he is currently 8-1 with 42 saves and sits with a 0.71 E.R.A over 139.2 Innings Pitched, winning 5 World Series Titles with the ‘Yanks. His playoff success was culminated by winning the ’99 World Series MVP Award. In fact tonight Rivera supplanted Trevor Hoffman as the all-time save leader with his 602nd save.
Hoffman, by comparison, slipped under the radar gun playing in the small market of San Diego. Nevertheless he was the current All-Time leader in career saves with 601, until tonight. Hoffman has posted nine seasons of 40+ saves. While not as accomplished as Rivera in Post-Season play, this may be attributed to not having nearly the same number of opportunities as Rivera has had, with the juggernaut Yankees.
Deciding who to choose as Closer is not an obvious choice. Let’s look at each pitcher’s average 162 game season;
Pitcher Wins Losses Saves IP H BB SO E.R.A
Rivera 5 4 39 78 61 18 72 2.22
Hoffman 4 5 39 72 56 20 74 2.87
Rivera is the more dominating of the two with respect to regular season statistics, only by a discrepancy in E.R.A. All the other regular season statistic, including yearly save totals, are close. Add to that Rivera's Post-Season numbers and it is safe to say that Major League Baseball is probably 50 years away from seeing a closer with Rivera's pedigree. Hoffman is still, however, an honourable mention.
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