Reliever Roundup & Bullpen Bonanza

Guardians closer Cade Smith. The Guardians had the top team relief score in the majors from the August 3 Trade Deadline through the end of play September 23 in the Reliever Roundup & Bullpen Bonanza rankings.

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

September 25, 2026

Reliever Roundup & Bullpen Bonanza, Week 25 Rankings

Welcome to Reliever Roundup and Bullpen Bonanza! These analyses and rankings take it to a different level than the other reliever rankings and coverage you’ve seen. We will separate our rankings by closers, setup men, and middle relievers. (We aren’t going to worry about ranking long relievers; instead, we’ll lump them in with the middle relievers.)

For reference, at the end of play on September 23, the league-wide AL ERA was 4.14. This is for every pitch thrown by any player from an American League team. For the National League — over the same span and within the same parameters — it was 4.22. As for the rest of the stats, statistics are up to the end of play on Wednesday, September 23 unless otherwise noted, are for relief appearances only, and exclude position pitchers. As a bonus, at the very end of the article, we’ve included tables that show the current team relief standings for the month of September, again through the end of play on the 23rd.

To the reader: we use some statistics you do might not recognize. To help you out, we have a glossary page. Furthermore, if a stat name is linked, click/tap it to see, in a new tab, the definition of that stat.

Click/tap here to see the ranking method.

League Averages:
AL — 1.315 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 13.1 K–BB%, 71.1 ScOtgER%, 2.8 GE/BE, 4.052 GE, 30.5 IS%.
NL — 1.314 WHIP, 2.7 HR%, 12.7 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtgER%, 3.0 GE/BE, 3.810 GE, 32.5 IS%.

Away we go!

Deadbolt Delivered

First, we will honor the relief units that slammed the door and threw away the key. Here are the updated totals for Door Slams!

To get a Door Slam, a team must close out the game with at least three consecutive Goose Eggs. This string must be completely uninterrupted — there cannot be any Broken Eggs in there, there cannot be any Mehs in there, and there can’t be any situation where the score differential is such that the pitcher doesn’t get any of the three. It must be Goose Egg-Goose Egg-Goose Egg. Bang, bang, bang. At least three in a row.

Why is this important? If a team gets a door slam, they completely shut the opponent down en route to a narrow victory. When the last outs are on the line, it’s lockdown only. The Door Slam celebrates those nights when the back end doesn’t merely protect the lead — it shuts the door, throws the deadbolt, and walks away with the key.

Door Slam Table

Door Slams by team, through Week 25. A Door Slam is defined as a game that ends with a team getting three or more consecutive Goose Eggs without interruption of any kind. Statistics run through the end of play on Sept 23.

Door Slam Totals

Here is the list of each team’s Door Slam totals at the end of Week 25. At this point, every team had played either 158 or 159 games. As you can see from the numbers here, Door Slams are not easy to get and are not common. They aren’t un-common — we typically get at least one per day — but they aren’t common, either.

The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates tied for both the NL and major-league lead at the end of play on Wednesday, September 23, with 13. Third place had one team: the AL-leading Houston Astros, with 12. The Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers tied for fourth, each with 11. Three teams had ten each: the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers, and St Louis Cardinals. Six teams had nine Goose Eggs each: the Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. Three teams had eight each: the Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Another three teams had seven each: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, and New York Yankees. An additional two — the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays — had six Door Slams each. One team had five door slams: the Baltimore Orioles. Three teams had four each: the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Nationals. The Los Angeles Angels had three. Finally, the San Francisco Giants still had one.

Door Slam Summary

In summary, over the first 25 weeks of the season, there were 244 total Door Slams league‑wide. The Reds and Pirates led with 13, followed by the AL-leading Astros with 12. Splitting it up by league, the AL had 124 and the NL had 120.

Week 25 Team Relief Corps Power Rankings

Time now for the post-Trade Deadline Power rankings. These rankings include every pitch thrown in relief by a player wearing their team’s uniform — excluding position players — from August 3 through the end of play on September 23. (Note: the Trade Deadline passed before any August 3 games began.) The tables below show the scoring breakdown. Teams are ranked in Clutch, Run Prevention, Baserunner Prevention, and Command, weighted as shown. The final score determines the ranking. Zero means right at league average. Positive is better than average, negative is below average. A score of 100 means the team is 100% better than league average; a score of 50 is 50% better; a score of -50 is 50% lower, and so on. Each whole number equals one percentage point.

As for the numbers or letters in parentheses, the first number is the team’s overall score. The second is that team’s change in ranking since Week 24. “N.C.” means “no change.”

Biggest Gains:

Tampa Bay Rays (+6)
Miami Marlins (+4)
Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals (+3)

Biggest Plunges:

Texas Rangers (-10)
St. Louis Cardinals (-3)

Here is this week’s Scatter Plot.

From Trade Deadline through end of play Sept 23. Chart, rankings, and ranking methods created by Evan M. Thompson.

Now here is the Scatter Plot with the Guardians removed.

Here is the line graph of every team’s rankings in the season so far, week by week.

Through end of play Sept 23. Chart, rankings, and ranking methods created by Evan M. Thompson.

Week 25 Individual Reliever Power Rankings

Statistics include every regular-season game up through the end of play on September 23. To qualify for the rankings, there is a minimum of 30 relief appearances, and for the GE/BE-plus statistic, which forms 2/3 of the “Clutch” category we use to rate setup men and closers, there is a minimum of 15 GE+BE.

A note on the roles: if a team is using Co-Closers, we list both as closers. If it is “Closer by Committee,” we list all members of that committee as setup men.

Also of note: since the Trade Deadline has passed, there are several players in the leaderboards who have played on more than one team. Their scores are based on their combined totals for the whole season, unless only one team name appears in parentheses.

AL Middle/Long Relievers

10. Jovani Morán (BOS) — 14.3
9. Grant Wolfram (BAL) — 14.4
8. Paul Sewald (ARI/TOR) — 16.7
7. Josh Walker (BAL) — 18.2
6. Colin Holderman (CLE) — 20.1
5. Erik Miller (SF/BOS) — 20.7
4. A.J. Minter (NYM/MIN) — 21.4
3. Craig Yoho (MIL/CLE) — 23.9
2. Drew Sommers (DET) — 26.6
1. Cam Booser (TB) — 35.3

NL Middle/Long Relievers

10. DL Hall (MIL) — 14.0
9. Kevin Ginkel (ARI) — 14.2
8. Tim Mayza (PHL) — 14.6
7. Brooks Raley (NYM/PHL) — 14.8
6. Yohan Ramírez (PIT) — 15.8
5. Jack Dreyer (LAD) — 16.2
4. Jonathan Loaisiga (ARI) — 20.9
3. Jonathan Bowlan (PHL) — 21.0
2. Alex Vesia (LAD) — 22.9
1. Dylan Dodd (ATL) — 26.8

AL Setup Men

10. Seranthony Domínguez (CHW/SEA) — 64.7
9. Erik Sabrowski (CLE) — 80.6
8. Yoendrys Gómez (MIN) — 81.2
7. Bryan Abreu (HOU) — 82.7
6. Kevin Kelly (TB) — 89.4
5. Brent Headrick (NYY) — 102.9
4. Hunter Gaddis (CLE) — 107.0
3. Garrett Whitlock (BOS) — 139.5
2. Paul Blackburn (NYY) — 140.7
1. Tyler Rogers (TOR) — 178.2

NL Setup Men

10. Aaron Ashby (MIL) — 96.1
9. Ryne Stanek (STL) — 99.2
8. Didier Fuentes (ATL) — 99.7
7. Brock Burke (CIN) — 129.8
6. Juan Morillo (ARI) — 136.3
5. Brandyn Garcia (ARI) — 139.4
4. Gregory Soto (PIT) — 139.5
3. Abner Uribe (MIL) — 140.0
2. Adrián Morejón (SD) — 203.5
1. Luke Weaver (NYM/PIT) — 228.4

AL Closers

5. Bryan Baker (TB) — 153.3
4. Grant Taylor (CHW) — 166.7
3. David Bednar (NYY) — 220.8
2. Cade Smith (CLE) — 232.9
1. Josh Hader (HOU) — 259.2

NL Closers

5. Emilio Pagán (CIN) — 141.8
4. Tanner Scott (LAD) — 146.5
3. Trevor Megill (MIL) — 149.4
2. Mason Montgomery (PIT) — 241.4
1. Mason Miller (SD) — 274.8

League Averages

AL — 1.315 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 13.1 K–BB%, 71.1 ScOtgER%, 2.8 GE/BE, 4.052 GE, 30.5 IS%.
NL — 1.314 WHIP, 2.7 HR%, 12.7 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtgER%, 3.0 GE/BE, 3.810 GE, 32.5 IS%.