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Who Were the Best Relief Pitchers in 2005?
Posted by John Dewan on Dec 16th 2015
November 16, 2005
Mariano Rivera stood head and shoulders above eveyone else, but looking at the top ten pitchers in relief ERA you find three pitchers from the World Champion Chicago White Sox.| Name | Team | ERA | Saves | Holds |
| Rivera, Mariano | NYY | 1.38 | 43 | 0 |
| Wagner, Billy | Phi | 1.51 | 38 | 0 |
| Street, Huston | Oak | 1.72 | 23 | 0 |
| Turnbow, Derrick | Mil | 1.74 | 39 | 2 |
| Cordero, Chad | Was | 1.82 | 47 | 0 |
| Linebrink, Scott | SD | 1.83 | 1 | 26 |
| Dempster, Ryan | ChC | 1.85 | 33 | 0 |
| Cotts, Neal | CWS | 1.94 | 0 | 13 |
| Politte, Cliff | CWS | 2.00 | 1 | 23 |
| Hermanson, Dustin | CWS | 2.04 | 34 | 5 |
| *Note: Pitchers with 50+ innings in relief in 2005 | ||||
The first chart was ranked by ERA, but what if we look at opponent on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS)? Here's the ranking by OPS:
| Name | Team | ERA | Saves | Holds | OPS |
| Rivera, Mariano | NYY | 1.38 | 43 | 0 | 0.465 |
| Wagner, Billy | Phi | 1.51 | 38 | 0 | 0.494 |
| Howry, Bob | Cle | 2.47 | 3 | 29 | 0.515 |
| Cotts, Neal | CWS | 1.94 | 0 | 13 | 0.527 |
| Wise, Matt | Mil | 3.36 | 1 | 10 | 0.530 |
| Nathan, Joe | Min | 2.70 | 43 | 0 | 0.534 |
| Street, Huston | Oak | 1.72 | 23 | 0 | 0.535 |
| Heilman, Aaron | NYM | 2.18 | 5 | 5 | 0.542 |
| Farnsworth, Kyle | Atl | 2.19 | 16 | 19 | 0.544 |
| Reyes, Al | StL | 2.15 | 3 | 16 | 0.550 |
It's still Mariano Rivera, with Billy Wagner number two again. Bobby Howry's superb season comes to light in this chart. His 29 holds were third in the American League (behind the 33 turned in by Tom Gordon with the Yankees and Scot Shields with the Angels).