Top 106 Baseball Players: #40 - Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera is easily the greatest closer in the history of baseball, and he is one of the greatest postseason players ever, period.

Rivera didn't reach the Majors until he was 25 years old, and he was not an immediate success. He began as a starter, but struggled, with an ERA of 5.51 in 1995, his rookie season, before he was moved to middle reliever. That was the role he played throughout 1996, when he finished with a 2.09 ERA and the #3 spot in the Cy Young voting, and a star was born.

In each of the next 3 seasons, he posted an ERA below 2.00, which is very rare, and in 1999 he led the league with 45 saves. He had helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 as a middle reliever, then pitched over 13 innings in 1998 without giving up a single run in 1998. He repeated the feat in 1999, pitching over 12 scoreless innings as he was awarded the World Series MVP.

He actually gave up a couple runs in the 2000 World Series, but the Yankees were still able to win their 3rd straight championship. After leading the league in saves in 2001 for the second time in his career, the Yankees went into the playoffs as heavy favorites, but lost in the World Series after Rivera blew a World Series save for the first time in his career.

Rivera pitched for another 12 seasons, picking up another save title, an ALCS MVP, and another championship, and other than the 2012 season, which he mostly missed due to an ACL injury, he was a great closer. He pitched in 32 postseason series in his career, and only gave up more than one earned run once in all those series.

Rivera is the holder of many records. He is the all-time saves leader, with 652, and is also the leader in most seasons with 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 50 saves. He pitched in more games than any other right-handed pitcher in history, and his 2.21 career ERA is the lowest of any player since 1920. He also holds the record for most seasons with an era lower than 2.00.

He also holds many career postseason records, including ERA (0.70), saves, consecutive saves, consecutive scoreless innings, and games pitched. Perhaps even more impressive is that he had more saves in his consecutive save streak of 23 than any other pitcher had total in his career. Dennis Eckersley and Trevor Hoffman, widely recognized as two of the greatest closers ever, both recognize Rivera as the definite #1, so there is no doubt that he deserves a spot on this list of the greatest players of all time.