the tourist
Blue Crack Addict
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2003
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Also, saying that Mariano was simply a "better closer" than his contemporaries is underselling it, considering his continued dominance for 15+ years and how relievers tend to flame out after a few years. He has the best career ERA for any pitcher with more than 1000 IPs since 1920. To put things in perspective, Edgar Martinez ranks 27th in wRC+ in the same spam. They are not in the same league.
Please tell me how much more dominating Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez would have been if they only had to pitch one inning a game 70 times a year. It's not a fair comp. Being a starter is ridiculously harder. Just look at Dennis Eckersley for an example. Good starter. Great closer. Pitchers coming out of the 'pen don't have to "save" (har har) anything for later, therefore they generally can throw harder out of the 'pen than they would if starting.