Reliever Roundup and Bullpen Bonanza — Week 22 (Sep 4 to Sep 10) Team Rankings

• September 5, 2023

Reliever Roundup and Bullpen Bonanza — 9/4–9/10 Team Rankings

We are beginning the 22nd week of the season. Here are the team bullpen/reliever/relief corps rankings as we enter the stretch run. The leader has remained the same since these rankings first ran. A waiver-wire liquidation caused one team to fall 13 spots. One of the NL Wild Card contenders is in the bottom five. A league-leading unit is nowhere near a playoff spot. And the team with baseball’s best record has surged into the top three.

Statistics are through the end of play Sunday, September 3 and only include each reliever’s stats with his current team. In addition, the team stats only include pitchers on the active roster and exclude position pitchers.

These rankings are not interested in what some guy in the minors did back in April before he was sent down. We want to see whose current relief roster is the toughest. That will be most useful when watching and analyzing games.

Brief Rankings Explanation

Rankings are split into the following categories. These categories encompass what a relief pitcher’s jobs are and are weighted according to importance. We don’t want to get bogged down, so we’ll keep it brief. (Author’s Note: For full details, leave a comment and I’ll be glad to get back to you.)

Clutch (45% of score) — How well they perform in late innings either while the game is tied or while holding a narrow lead.

Run Prevention (35%) — How well they keep runs off the board, including inherited runners.

Baserunner Prevention (13%) — Who has the lowest WHIP and lowest home run percentage (HR%). WHIP is 85% of the Baserunner Prevention score, and HR% is 15%.

Command (7%) — Who has the best strikeout percentage minus walk percentage (K–BB%).

The total score in each category is based on the league average. Zero points equals the league average. Positive scores are better than league average; negative scores are worse. The farther their score is from zero — either positive or negative — the farther they are from the league average.

(Note: Due to weighting each score, adding the four categories together won’t equal the total score.)

For a full breakdown of each category’s score formula, click here.

Week 22 (Sep 4 to Sep 10) Team Reliever and Bullpen Rankings

The Elite

1. Milwaukee Brewers (34.2, First in NL), No Change from Last Week
   65.3 Clutch, 7.2 Run Prevention, 9.0 Baserunners, 15.8 Command

2. Detroit Tigers (20.6, First in AL), ▲ +2 from Last Week
   42.9 Clutch, 2.1 Run Prevention, 5.6 Baserunners, -2.9 Command

3. Atlanta Braves (19.3, Second in NL), ▲ +5 from Last Week
   40.4 Clutch, 1.0 Run Prevention, -1.8 Baserunners, 14.2 Command

Better Take an Early Lead…

4. San Francisco Giants (16.4, Third in NL), ▼ -1 from Last Week
   34.6 Clutch, -1.6 Run Prevention, 7.3 Baserunners, 5.5 Command

5. Seattle Mariners (15.1, Second in AL), ▼ -3 from Last Week
   23.3 Clutch, 7.8 Run Prevention, 3.5 Baserunners, 20.4 Command

6. Boston Red Sox (13.8, Third in AL), No Change from Last Week
   26.9 Clutch, 1.5 Run Prevention, 4.2 Baserunners, 9.4 Command

The Very Good

7. Cleveland Guardians (12.3, Fourth in AL), ▲ +4 from Last Week
   17.1 Clutch, 10.1 Run Prevention, 4.8 Baserunners, 6.2 Command

8. Los Angeles Dodgers (11.3, Fourth in NL), ▲ +4 from Last Week
   15.2 Clutch, 9.9 Run Prevention, 8.2 Baserunners, -1.6 Command

9. Chicago Cubs (10.3, Fifth in NL), ▼ -4 from Last Week
   16.9 Clutch, 4.8 Run Prevention, 4.1 Baserunners, 6.8 Command

The Good

10. Toronto Blue Jays (7.9, Fifth in AL), No Change from Last Week
    2.4 Clutch, 13.0 Run Prevention, 4.3 Baserunners, 23.9 Command

11. New York Yankees (7.5, Sixth in AL), ▲ +2 from Last Week
    15.1 Clutch, 0.7 Run Prevention, 4.6 Baserunners, -2.0 Command

12. Miami Marlins (6.7, Sixth in NL), ▲ +5 from Last Week
    2.8 Clutch, 6.9 Run Prevention, 9.2 Baserunners, 26.0 Command

Slightly above Average

13. Pittsburgh Pirates (4.5, Seventh in NL), ▲ +1 from Last Week
    16.0 Clutch, -4.9 Run Prevention, -5.8 Baserunners, -4.1 Command

14. Tampa Bay Rays (3.0, Seventh in AL), ▼ -7 from Last Week
    3.9 Clutch, 2.6 Run Prevention, 4.1 Baserunners, -3.4 Command

The Average

15. Houston Astros (1.4, Eighth in AL), ▲ +1 from Last Week
    0.9 Clutch, 0.9 Run Prevention, 1.2 Baserunners, 7.1 Command

16. Baltimore Orioles (1.0, Ninth in AL), ▲ +5 from Last Week
    -2.4 Clutch, 6.6 Run Prevention, 0.8 Baserunners, -4.7 Command

Below Average

17. Philadelphia Phillies (-2.1, Eighth in NL), ▲ +3 from Last Week
    -10.1 Clutch, 1.1 Run Prevention, 4.9 Baserunners, 20.8 Command

18. Cincinnati Reds (-2.63, rounded to -2.6, Ninth in NL), ▼ -3 from Last Week
    -4.3 Clutch, 1.5 Run Prevention, -2.1 Baserunners, -13.4 Command

19. Texas Rangers (-2.64 rounded to -2.6, 10th in AL), ▲ +3 from Last Week
    -13.5 Clutch, 2.4 Run Prevention, 9.2 Baserunners, 20.1 Command

20. Minnesota Twins (-4.8, 11th in AL), ▼ -1 from Last Week
    -7.1 Clutch, -6.3 Run Prevention, 2.3 Baserunners, 5.3 Command

Lots of Work to Do

21. Washington Nationals (-5.6, 10th in NL), ▲ +2 from Last Week
    -4.9 Clutch, -4.8 Run Prevention, -8.6 Baserunners, -8.2 Command

22. Los Angeles Angels (-6.1, 12th in AL), ▼ -13 from Last Week
    12.6 Clutch, -21.0 Run Prevention, -21.0 Baserunners, -24.4 Command

23. St Louis Cardinals (-9.3, 11th in NL), ▲ +6 from Last Week
    -8.4 Clutch, -8.1 Run Prevention, -10.0 Baserunners, -18.8 Command

Stock Up on Tums

24. San Diego Padres (-10.4, 12th in NL), ▼ -6 from Last Week
    -22.1 Clutch, -1.0 Run Prevention, 0.1 Baserunners, -2.7 Command

25. Colorado Rockies (-13.9, 13th in NL), ▼ -1 from Last Week
    -15.2 Clutch, -9.2 Run Prevention, -12.3 Baserunners, -31.5 Command

26. Arizona Diamondbacks (-15.4, 14th in NL), No Change from Last Week
    -31.9 Clutch, -2.3 Run Prevention, -1.8 Baserunners, 0.4 Command

Pray for a Blowout Win

27. Chicago White Sox (-16.6, 13th in AL), ▼ -2 from Last Week
    -25.2 Clutch, -9.5 Run Prevention, -7.7 Baserunners, -13.7 Command

28. New York Mets (-18.3, 15th in NL), ▼ -1 from Last Week
    -32.6 Clutch, -5.6 Run Prevention, -6.5 Baserunners, -11.6 Command

29. Oakland Athletics (-22.0, 14th in AL), No Change from Last Week
    -21.4 Clutch, -19.8 Run Prevention, -17.3 Baserunners, -46.1 Command

An Outlier for the Wrong Reason

30. Kansas City Royals (-35.3, 15th in AL), No Change from Last Week
    -55.1 Clutch, -19.1 Run Prevention, -17.6 Baserunners, -21.9 Command

Full Score Explanation

For clutch, we will use both the Goose Egg total (33%) and the ratio of Goose Eggs to Broken Eggs (67%) due to the major flaws in Saves and Holds. Full details about Goose Eggs are here. Otherwise, here’s the elevator speech.

A Goose Egg is like a save, except more restrictive. Here are the main points…

• It’s done inning by inning, starting in the seventh.
• Maximum of a two-run lead, not three, but it also includes tie games. Like the save, exceptions are made if the tying run is on base or at bat. (Not on deck, however.)
• Run Breakdown:
  • No run of any kind — earned, unearned, or inherited — scores, it’s a goose egg (GE).
  • Earned run charged to the pitcher, it’s a broken egg (BE).
  • Any other run scores, it’s neither.
  • Earned run scores in an inning where he closes out the victory, it’s also neither.
  • Starts the inning and gives up no runs, but doesn’t finish the inning, it’s also neither.
• He must finish the inning while recording the following number of outs:
  • No one on when he starts the inning — all three;
  • One on — at least two;
  • Two or three on — at least one.
• Any time it’s “neither,” it’s called a “Meh,” as in “nothing special.” They’re like a stalemate in chess and count as nothing, so we don’t really talk about them.
• Most important is the ratio of GE to BE (GE/BE). The historical average, dating to 1921, is 3.0, or 3-to-1.

Click here for the full database of these stats.

For run prevention, we will use a mixture of the Scoreless Outing Percentage (Earned Runs only), Inherited Runners Scored Percentage (IS%), and ERA-minus. ScOtg% is 75% of the score, IS% is 15%, and ERA-minus is 10%.

Back to the rankings.

Also See:

Week 21 Rankings, Week 19 Rankings, Week 18 Rankings, Week 16 Rankings, Week 15/All-Star Break Rankings, Week 14 Rankings, Week 13 Rankings.

Week 21 Individual Rankings, Week 20 Individual Rankings.

Category Breakdowns

Main Photo:

Embed from Getty Images

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