Save (baseball)

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Mariano Rivera is the MLB all-time leader in saves.

In baseball, a save (abbreviated SV or S) is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the
winning team under certain prescribed circumstances, described below. The number of saves, or
percentage of save opportunities successfully converted, is an oft-cited statistic of relief pitchers,
particularly those in the closer role. It became an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic
in 1969. Mariano Rivera is MLB's all-time leader in regular season saves with 652.
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Contents
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1 History

2 Usage

3 Value

4 Leaders in Major League Baseball

4.1.1 Most saves in a career

4.1.2 Most in a single season

4.1.3 Most consecutive

4.2.1 Career

4.2.2 Single season

5 See also

6 Notes

7 References

8 External links

History[edit]
The term save was being used as far back as 1952. Executives Jim Toomey of the St. Louis
Cardinals, Allan Roth of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Irv Kaze of the Pittsburgh Pirates awarded
saves to pitchers that finished winning games but were not credited with the win, regardless of the
margin of victory. The statistic went largely unnoticed.
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A formula with more criteria for saves was invented in 1960 by baseball writer Jerome Holtzman. He
felt that the existing statistics at the time, earned run average (ERA) and winloss record (W-L), did
not sufficiently measure a reliever's effectiveness. ERA does not account for inherited runners a
reliever allows to score, and W-L record does not account for relievers protecting leads. Elroy
Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates was 181 in 1959; however, Holtzman wrote that in 10 of the 18 wins,
Face allowed the tying or lead run but got the win when the Pirates offense regained the lead.
Holtzman felt that Face was more effective the previous year when he was 52. When Holtzman
presented the idea to J. G. Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News, "[Spink] gave [Holtzman] a
$100 bonus. Maybe it was $200." Holtzman recorded the unofficial save statistic in The Sporting
News weekly for nine years before it became official in 1969. In conjunction with publishing the
statistic, The Sporting News in 1960 also introduced the Fireman of the Year Award, which was
awarded based on a combination of saves and wins.
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[1][note

1]

[1][6]

The save became an official MLB statistic in 1969. It was MLB's first new major statistic since
the run batted in was added in 1920. Bill Singer is credited with recording the first official save when
he pitched three shutout innings in relief of Don Drysdale in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 32 Opening
Day victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field on April 7 of that year.
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[1]

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Usage[edit]
In baseball statistics, the term save is used to indicate the successful maintenance of a lead by a
relief pitcher, usually the closer, until the end of the game. A save is a statistic credited to a relief
pitcher, as set forth in Rule 10.19 of the Official Rules of Major League Baseball. That rule states
the official scorer shall credit a pitcher with a save when such pitcher meets all four of the following
conditions:
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1. He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team;

If a relief pitcher satisfies all of the criteria for a save, except he does not finish the game, he will
often be credited with a hold (which is not an officially recognized statistic by Major League
Baseball).
A blown save (abbreviated BSV, BS or B) is charged to a pitcher who enters a game in a situation
which permits him to earn a save (a save situation or save opportunity), but who instead allows
the tying run to score. Note that if the tying run was scored by a runner who was already on base
when the new pitcher entered the game, that new pitcher will be charged with a blown save even
though the run will not be charged to the new pitcher, but rather to the pitcher who allowed that
runner to reach base. Due to this definition, a pitcher cannot blow multiple saves in a game unless
he has multiple save opportunities, a situation only possible when a pitcher temporarily switches
defensive positions. The blown save was introduced by the Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1988. A
pitcher who enters the game in a save situation and does not finish the gamebut his team still
leadingis not charged with a save opportunity. Save percentage is the ratio of saves to save
opportunities.
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In 1974, tougher criteria were adopted for saves where the tying run had to be on base or at the
plate when the reliever entered to qualify for a save (unless he pitched three innings). This
addressed saves such as Ron Taylor's in a 206 New York Mets win over the Atlanta Braves. The
rule was relaxed in 1975 to credit a save when a reliever pitches at least one inning with no more
than a three-run lead, or comes in with runners on base but the tying run on deck. In 2000, Rolaids
started recording a tough savewhen a pitcher enters a save situation with the potential tying run
already on base, but still earns the save.
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Value[edit]
As Francisco Rodrguez pursued the single-season saves record in 2008, Baseball
Prospectus member Joe Sheehan, Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci, and The New York
Sun writer Tim Marchman wrote that Rodrguez's save total was enhanced by the number of
opportunities his team presented, allowing him to amass one particular statistic. They thought that
Rodrguez on his record-breaking march was less effective than in prior years.
Sheehan offered
that saves did not account for a pitcher's proficiency at preventing runs nor did it reflect leads that
were not preserved.
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Bradford Doolittle of The Kansas City Star wrote, "[The closer] is the only example in sports of a
statistic creating a job." He decried the best relievers pitching fewer innings starting in the 1980s with
their workload being reduced from two- to one-inning outings while less efficient pitchers were
pitching those innings instead. ESPN.com columnist Jim Caple has argued that the save statistic
has turned the closer position into "the most overrated position in sports". Caple and others
contend that using one's best reliever in situations such as a three-run lead in the ninthwhen a
team will almost certainly win even with a lesser pitcheris foolish, and that using a closer in the
traditional fireman role exemplified by pitchers such as Goose Gossage is far wiser. (A "fireman"
situation is men on base in a tied or close game, hence a reliever ending such a threat is "putting out
the fire.")
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Firemen frequently pitched two- or three-inning outings to earn saves. The modern closer, reduced
to a one-inning role, is available to pitch more save opportunities. In the past, a reliever pitching
three innings one game would be unavailable to pitch the next game. Gossage had more saves of
at least two innings than saves where he pitched one inning or less. "The times I did a one-inning
save, I felt guilty about it. It's like it was too easy," said Gossage. ESPN.com wrote that saves have
not been determined to be "a special, repeatable skillrather than simply a function of
opportunities". It also noted that blown saves are "non-qualitative", pointing out that the two career
leaders in blown savesGossage (112) and Rollie Fingers (109)were both inducted into
theBaseball Hall of Fame. Fran Zimniuch in Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball wrote,
"But you have to be a great relief pitcher to blow that many saves. Clearly, [Gossage] saved many,
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many more than he did not save." More than half of Gossage's and Finger's blown saves came in
tough save situations, where the tying run was on base when the pitcher entered. In nearly half of
their blown tough saves, they entered the game in the sixth or seventh inning. Multiple-inning outings
provide more chances for a reliever to blow a save. The pitchers need to get out of the initial
situation and pitch additional innings with more chances to lose the lead. A study by the Baseball
Hall of Fame found modern closers were put into fewer tough save situations compared to past
relievers. The modern closer also earned significantly more "easy saves", defined as saves
starting the ninth inning with more than a one-run lead.
The study offered "praise to the
combatants who faced more danger for more innings."
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[note 2]

[note 3]

[note 4][12]

[12]

On September 3, 2002, the Texas Rangers won 7-1 over the Baltimore Orioles as Joaquin
Benoit pitched a seven-inning save, the longest save since it became an official statistic in 1969.
Benoit relieved Todd Van Poppel (who entered the game in the first inning after starter Aaron
Myette was ejected for throwing at Melvin Mora) at the start of the third inning, and finished the
game while allowing just one hit. The official scorer credited the win to Van Poppel and not Benoit, a
decision that was also supported by Texas manager Jerry Narron.
[27][note

5]

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On August 22, 2007, Wes Littleton earned a save with the largest winning margin ever, pitching the
last three innings of a 303 Texas Rangers victory win over the Baltimore Orioles. Littleton entered
the game with a 143 lead, and the final 27-run differential broke the previous record for a save by
eight runs. The New York Times noted that "there are the preposterous saves, of which Littletons
now stands out as No. 1."
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On October 29, 2014, Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco Giants recorded the longest save
in World Series history, pitching five scoreless innings of relief in a Game 7 3-2 victory over Kansas
City Royals.
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