As probably the most dominant and feared closers ever to take the mound in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees Mariano Rivera is absolutely lights out when his number is called. Calm and cool under pressure with a wicked cut fastball pitch Rivera has cemented himself and his legacy as one of the best postseason pitchers ever to play the game and has the World Series rings to prove it!
With four World Series rings, nine All Star selections and an all around respect and recognition as quite possibly the most dominant closer all-time, Rivera is a scary sight to see for any opposing club of the New York Yankees trying to rally a comeback late in a game.
In 1995, Rivera made his start in the MLB and with the New York Yankees as a starting pitcher, but he didn’t not find much success as in his first year as he bounced back and forth with the Yankees AAA squad and ended the year with a 5-3 and a less than impressive 5.51 ERA.
The following season the Yankees decided to put Rivera in more of set up man role for John Wetteland who was their closer at the time. This decision was made after considerable improvement was taken notice of and a trade to the Detroit Tigers which involved future teammate David Wells was broken off.
As a set up man for Wetteland, Rivera excelled and quickly became a force in the Yankees bullpen and a big part of their recent World Series victory. The Panama product only allowed a single homerun the entire season and put up an impressive 2.04 ERA which resulted in Rivera coming in third in the Cy Young voting that year.
After Wetteland left the Yankees the following season, Rivera took over the closer position and never looked back. Although it was a somewhat ruff start for Rivera blowing his first 3 of 6 opportunities for saves, he eventually was able to become comfortable in his new role as the Yankees closer and earned a trip to the All Star game and played out the season with 43 saves and a nice ERA of 1.88, but the Yankees failed to make back to the World Series after losing to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.
In both the 1998 and 1999 seasons Rivera was instrumental in two more World Series titles for the New York Yankees as he continued to improve and be increasingly more dominant as their closer. As of today, Rivera is the holder of two impressive MLB records both the most postseason saves with 34 and an amazing lifetime ERA of 0.77.
Even though Rivera’s skills have declined over the years, he is still considered one of the most dominant closers in the MLB today and could go down as the best ever to play the game. Along he is guaranteed to be one of the few retired Yankees Jerseys; Rivera will also one day make it to the baseball hall of fame as well.
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