Reliever Roundup & Bullpen Bonanza

Rays left-hander Cam Booser, the #1 AL Middle/Long Reliever in the Week 19 Reliever Rankings

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

August 14, 2026

Reliever Roundup & Bullpen Bonanza, Week 19 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 August 12, the league-wide AL ERA was 4.15. 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 4.19. As for the rest of the stats, statistics are up to the end of play on Wednesday, August 12 unless otherwise noted, are for relief appearances only, and exclude position pitchers.

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 — 1.327 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 12.8 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtg% (ER), 2.8 GE/BE, 3.6 GE, 31.3 IS%.
NL — 1.317 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 12.5 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtg% (ER), 3.1 GE/BE, 3.4 GE, 32.2 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 Summary

Door Slams by team, through Week 19. 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 Aug 12.

Door Slam Totals

Here is the list of each team’s Door Slam totals at the end of Week 19. At this point, every team had played between 119 and 122 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 leaders in all of Major League Baseball at the end of play on Wednesday, August 12, were the Cincinnati Reds, with 12. In second place were the Milwaukee Brewers, with 11. The Atlanta Braves stood alone in third with nine. Five teams had eight each: the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Toronto Blue Jays. Seven teams had seven Goose Eggs each: the Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St Louis Cardinals, and Texas Rangers. An additional three had six door slams each: the Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins.

Four teams had five door slams each: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, and San Diego Padres. Two teams had four each: the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays had three each. A single team had two door slams — the Washington Nationals. Finally, two teams still had one each: the Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants.

In summary, over the first 19 weeks of the season, there were 180 total Door Slams league‑wide. The Reds led the pack with 12 followed by the Brewers with 11. In a three-way tie, the Red Sox, Mariners, and Blue Jays led the American League with eight each. Splitting it up by league, the National League had 94 Door Slams; the American League had 86.

Week 19 Team Relief Corps Power Rankings

These rankings include every pitch thrown in relief by a player wearing their team’s uniform — excluding position players — through the end of play on August 12. This table shows 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 18. “N.C.” means “no change.”

Biggest Gains:

Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays (+4)
Los Angeles Angels (+2)

Biggest Plunges:

Boston Red Sox (-7)
Seattle Mariners (-4)
Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks (-3)

Here’s a look at this week’s Scatter Plot.

Through end of play Aug 12. Chart, rankings, and ranking methods created by Evan M. Thompson.

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

Week 19 Individual Reliever Power Rankings

Statistics include every regular-season game up through the end of play on August 12. To qualify for the rankings, there is a minimum of 24 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 12 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.

AL Middle/Long Relievers

10. Gabe Speier (SEA) — 13.4
9. Erik Sabrowski (CLE) — 14.3
8. Chase Silseth (LAA/TEX) — 15.4
7. Jovani Morán (BOS) — 18.3
6. Drew Sommers (DET) — 21.9
5. Huascar Brazobán (NYM/CHW) — 28.3
4. A.J. Minter (NYM/MIN) — 28.4
3. Tyler Wells (BAL/TB) — 30.0
2. Tyron Guerrero (BOS) — 33.1
1. Cam Booser (TB) — 36.6

NL Middle/Long Relievers

10. Bradgley Rodriguez (SD) — 10.9
9. Tyler Zuber (MIA) — 12.8
8. Taylor Clarke (ARI) — 13.9
7. Ryan Rolison (CHC) — 15.1
6. Jonathan Loáisiga (ARI) — 15.5
5. Edgardo Henriquez (LAD) — 18.8
4. John King (MIA) — 20.2
3. Jack Dreyer (LAD) — 20.7
2. Brooks Raley (NYM/PHL) — 28.6
1. Dylan Dodd (ATL) — 29.7

AL Setup Men

10. Andrew Morris (MIN) — 66.0
9. Garrett Cleavinger (TB) — 69.5
8. Jeff Hoffman (TOR/MIN) — 80.2
7. Hunter Gaddis (CLE) — 85.3
6. Bryan Abreu (HOU) — 85.4
5. Sean Newcomb (CHW) — 88.6
4. Kevin Kelly (TB) — 106.5
3. Brent Headrick (NYY) — 114.5
2. Tyler Rogers (TOR) — 167.4
1. Steven Okert (HOU) — 197.8

NL Setup Men

10. Aaron Ashby (MIL) — 84.0
9. Dylan Lee (ATL) — 109.9
8. Juan Morillo (ARI) — 114.4
7. Alex Vesia (LAD) — 124.5
6. Mason Montgomery (PIT) — 126.4
5. Abner Uribe (MIL) — 138.0
4. Gregory Soto (PIT) — 147.2
3. Adrián Morejón (SD) — 170.3
2. Brock Burke (CIN) — 188.5
1. Luke Weaver (NYM/PIT) — 303.7

AL Closers

We’ll include #6 and #7, since they also broke 100.

7. Jacob Latz (TEX) — 126.9
6. Bryan Baker (TB) — 128.5
5. Louis Varland (TOR) — 147.5
4. Grant Taylor (CHW) — 171.1
3. David Bednar (NYY) — 171.3
2. Cade Smith (CLE) — 181.5
1. Josh Hader (HOU) — 300.4

NL Closers

We’ll include #6 since he also broke 100.

6. Jacob Webb (CHC) — 116.6
5. Jhoan Duran (PHL) — 117.8
4. Tanner Scott (LAD) — 156.4
3. Trevor Megill (MIL) — 157.3
2. Riley O’Brien (STL) — 157.9
1. Mason Miller (SD) — 358.1

League Averages

AL — 1.327 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 12.8 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtg% (ER), 2.8 GE/BE, 3.6 GE, 31.3 IS%.
NL — 1.317 WHIP, 2.8 HR%, 12.5 K–BB%, 70.7 ScOtg% (ER), 3.1 GE/BE, 3.4 GE, 32.2 IS%.