Saves in the postseason

Last month, I bought some lucky packs of baseball cards and tried to see whether I could get something really cool. I found a card with a piece of Trevor Hoffman’s game-used jersey. Additionally, Bernie Williams is on the front of the card as well.

Trevor Hoffman was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018 and in his great career, he posted a 2.87 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP with 601 saves (2nd most in MLB history) and 1133 strikeouts. However, things were not exactly the same in the postseason. Hoffman has only 4 postseason saves with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP over 13 innings pitched. Hoffman recorded his first postseason save against the Astros in the NLDS on September 29, 1998. In total, he collected 3 saves in the NLDS and 1 save in the NLCS. However, he didn’t record any saves in the World Series. So, who has the most saves in the postseason? The answer is not that difficult.

Saves (Postseason, Career)
Player	SV
Mariano Rivera	42
Kenley Jansen	18
Brad Lidge
Dennis Eckersley	15
Jason Isringhausen	11
Robb Nen

Mariano Rivera, the last player to wear No.42, recorded 652 saves in his career and he’s the all-time leader in saves. Rivera posted a 2.21 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in 1115 games in his career. In the postseason, he collected 42 saves. Among those 42 saves, Rivera collected 18 saves in the ALDS, 13 saves in the ALCS and in the World Series, he had 11 saves.

Saves (Postseason, Mariano Rivera)
Series	SV
ALDS	18
ALCS	13
WS	11

 

It’s quite interesting to see Mariano Rivera have 11 saves in the World Series. Looking at the leaderboard of saves in the postseason. Jason Isringhausen and Robb Nen each had 11 saves in the postseason. Rivera had 11 saves in the World Series.

Saves (Postseason, Brad Lidge)
Series	SV
NLDS	6
NLCS	10
WS	2

In addition, Brad Lidge has 225 saves in his career. Compared to Trevor Hoffman’s 601 career saves, 225 are not a huge number. But, Lidge has 18 saves in the postseason. Among those 18 saves, 6 saves were from the NLDS, 10 saves from the NLCS and he picked up 2 saves in the World Series.

Saves (Postseason, Kenley Jansen) ~2021.10.12
Series	SV
NLWC	1
NLDS	9
NLCS	6
WS	2

Furthermore, Kenley Jansen struck out the side against the Cardinals in the National League Wild Card game. In the NLDS, he pitched one game so far and he struck out the side again. By far, Jansen has 18 postseason saves. Among those 18 saves, he got one save in the National League Wild Card Series, 9 saves in the NLDS, 6 saves in the NLCS and 2 saves in the World Series. However, Jansen hasn’t picked up a save in the World Series since the 2017 World Series.

There’s little doubt that Trevor Hoffman is one of the best closers in MLB history. He’s one of the only two pitchers to collect at least 600 saves and he’s a 7-time All-Star. In total, there were 14 times that he collected at least 30 saves in a single season. However, he didn’t have too many opportunities to pitch in the postseason since the Padres, when Hoffman was playing, were not as competitive as the Yankees. Moreover, he only had 12 relief appearances in the playoffs and Rivera had 96 relief appearances in the postseason.