By The Numbers: Enter Sandman
By Father Gabe Costa
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He is the last player who will ever wear Number 42. He is a quiet, humble gentleman who avoids the spotlight whenever he can. The team comes first! There is no record of him ever making an excuse on the rare occasions in which he has not excelled in his craft. And there are many who believe that outside of Babe Ruth himself, he is the greatest player ever to wear the Pinstripes.
He is The Sandman. Mo. The Great Mariano. He has just recorded his 602nd Save (SV) and he now heads this all time list, and most probably will be there as long as the game is played.
A word must be said about Trevor Hoffman, the great reliever who held the record before Rivera. Hoffman pitched for 18 seasons, all in the National League. Pitching just under 1100 innings (IP), he compiled an earned-run-average (ERA) of 2.87 and a walks-plus-hits-per-inning ratio (WHIP) of 1.058. A member of the All-Star team seven times, he should be elected to the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible.
Make no mistake about it, Hoffman was great.
But Rivera is the greatest.
These are some of the numbers Rivera has recorded so far (with 10 games still left to play in the regular season):
- 602 SV
- 0.998 WHIP
- 2.22 ERA
- 1209 IP
- 1108 K (Strikeouts)
- 274 W (Walks)
- 35 IW (Intentional Walks)
- 4.04 K/W (Strikeouts to Walks Ratio)
For the Postseason, some of the statistics Mo has put up are as follows:
- 139.2 IP (Composite for Postseason)
- 109 K (Composite for Postseason)
- 21 W (Composite for Postseason)
- 4 IW (Composite for Postseason)
- 5.19 K/W (Composite for Postseason)
- 0.33 ERA (ALDS)
- 0.92 ERA (ALCS)
- 0.99 ERA (WS)
- 0.71 ERA (Composite for Postseason)
- 18 SV (ALDS)
- 13 SV (ALCS)
- 11 SV (WS)
- 42 SV (Composite for Postseason)
- 0.585 WHIP (ALDS)
- 0.822 WHIP (ALCS)
- 0.963 WHIP (WS)
- 0.766 WHIP (Composite for Postseason)
Note that as great as Mariano has been during regular season play, his numbers are even better during postseason play. He has a lower WHIP, a lower ERA and a higher K/W ratio.
No more needs to be written about the Greatest of all Closers. The numbers speak for themselves.
