The Closer Role Evolution

How the closer role in baseball has evolved and what the save statistic has produced

The Evolution

The closer role in Major League Baseball -- the specific bullpen specialisation that identifies a single pitcher to throw the final inning of a close game -- has evolved substantially since the 1980s when the specific save statistic that the role is built around was formalised. The role has been the most discussed and the most analytics-challenged bullpen specialisation in the post-analytics era.

The Analytics Challenge

The analytics challenge: the research on the optimal use of the best relief pitcher consistently finds that using the best reliever in the highest-leverage situation -- which is often not the ninth inning of a close game -- produces better outcomes than using the best reliever only in the ninth inning regardless of the leverage. The analytics argument has been implemented by some teams and resisted by most managers whose relationship with the closer convention predates the analytics era.

On Deck Coverage

The On Deck News covers the closer evolution because the accountability journalism of baseball strategy requires examining the specific tactical convention whose analytics challenge has been most clearly established and least widely implemented.

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