Projecting Rest of Season Top 10 Closers in 2026 Fantasy Baseball (August Update)

August 4, 2026

Dan Palyo projects which 10 closers will finish the season in the top 10 for the 2026 fantasy baseball season as we head into Week 18 of MLB action.

The trade deadline was a wild ride yesterday, with quite a few teams upgrading their lineups, rotations, and bullpens for the stretch run. We didn't see too many closers moved, though it looks like Jeff Hoffman is clearly the new closer in Minnesota and Luke Weaver certainly could be the Pirates' top ninth-inning option.

Now that we've hit the dog days of August, it's time for our monthly check-in on the closer rankings and leaderboard. With two months to go, there's still plenty of time for player movement on the leaderboard, though the top group of closers is definitely beginning to solidify.

So, which closers do we expect to finish in the top 10 by the end of the season? Let's start by looking at the current top 10 closers as of today, August 4.

Current Top 10 Closers for Fantasy Baseball

Here are the top 10 most valuable starting pitchers in 5x5 roto leagues right now, according to Yahoo's player rankings. All stats were current through Sunday, August 2.

Mason Miller is still a Padre, and San Diego decided to buy (don't they always?) instead of sell at the deadline, adding Robbie Ray and Casey Mize to their rotation. Miller is in a tier of his own, ranking 30 spots higher than the next closer. It will be very interesting to see how high he's drafted next season in fantasy leagues.

Jeff Hoffman's departure from Toronto means that Varland is the unrivaled late-inning guy in Toronto, but it also means one less reliable guy in that pen to help preserve leads for this Toronto team (and their terrible offense). I love what Varland has done this year, but the Jays were sellers at the deadline, shipping out Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho, and I think his save opportunities could dwindle.

Speaking of disappearing opportunities, Texas closer Jacob Latz hasn't pitched in a week. He's clinging to the third spot in the rankings, but mainly on the strength of his 0.66 WHIP, as his 21 saves on the year now rank just 11th in the league.

Your new league leader in saves is Bryan Baker of the Tampa Bay Rays with 31. He's been simply fantastic in his first full season as a closer, and with the Rays adding Freddy Peralta at the deadline to potentially strengthen their rotation, we could see even more save opportunities for Baker on a very good Tampa team.

Your AL and NL Relievers of the Month for July:

Aroldis Chapman: 12 IP, 17 Ks, 0.75 ERA, 10 saves
Mason Miller: 11 IP, 19 Ks, 0.82 ERA, 7 saves pic.twitter.com/BaBe2JIuUW

— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2026

Let's talk about some of this month's risers! No one has more saves over the last month than Boston's Aroldis Chapman. The ageless wonder has been locking down games for the Red Sox as they completely turned their season around and ended up being buyers, not sellers at the deadline. He looks poised for a big finish to the season as Boston has a solid pitching staff in front of him and has seen their offense come to life this summer.

David Bednar, K'ing the Side in the 9th pic.twitter.com/zd1Z09oer6

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 13, 2026

Let's not bury the lede here, though, as it's David Bednar on the cover of this article! I will admit that I had questions about Bednar's ability to close games after he looked shaky at the end of last season and the beginning of this one, but he's been lights out over the last month, racking up seven saves with a 1.46 ERA and 0.65 WHIP.

The Yankees didn't go after bullpen help, and actually traded away Camilo Doval to the Pirates, so Bednar's role looks secure, and even with New York's offensive struggles, he should continue to get plenty of save opportunities with Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole leading the way for a Yankees rotation that has the fifth-best ERA in baseball.

Projected Top 10 Closers for Fantasy Baseball

When we factor in the remaining schedule and adjust for some expected regression, we end up with this list - my prediction for which relief pitchers finish as the top 10 closers by the end of the season.

I am bumping Baker up to the second spot based on his high number of saves and the likelihood of more save opportunities down the stretch. The same logic applies to Cade Smith, who only had four saves over the last month, but put up a 0.75 ERA and 0.83 WHIP over 12 innings for Cleveland. The Guardians acquired Foster Griffin to help bolster an already very good rotation, and with a very mediocre offense, I could see Smith having to save a lot of close games down the stretch as Cleveland makes a run for the playoffs.

I keep pushing up Jhoan Duran as everything about his stats screams "elite closer." His 1.54 SIERA is second only to Mason Miller's 1.38, and a 59% GB% is a beautiful thing to see as only two other pitchers on our leaderboard have a GB% higher than 50% (Varland and Bednar).

Josh Hader, K'ing the Side in the 9th pic.twitter.com/J5Fl17zd6Q

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 18, 2026

As I predicted last month, it didn't take long for Josh Hader to work his way onto the leaderboard. I am going to keep bumping him up, as he's been tremendous since his mid-season debut (1.17 ERA) and his xERA of 1.56 is second only to (you guessed it) Mason Miller at 1.35.

I expect Tanner Scott to drop out of the ranks as Edwin Diaz is back for the Dodgers and was given the first save opportunity that occurred since his return. I like Brewers' closer Trevor Megill to take his place in the top ten, as he's been extremely reliable for Milwaukee lately and has the benefit of pitching for a really good team with a lot of starting pitching depth (perhaps they can now elevate Dustin May, too?)

Honorable Mention

Raisel Iglesias and Andres Munoz both deserve a shout-out here. Iglesias is now up to 24 saves for Atlanta and is probably the first guy sitting outside the top ten for me. It's taken a while, but Munoz has brought his ERA down under 4.00 and his WHIP to 1.25. He's looked more like the 2025 version of himself lately, posting a 1.93 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 16 strikeouts across his last 9.1 innings.

Riley O'Brien is right in the mix here for the last spot, too. His save pace has slowed down considerably, however, as he's sitting at 26 for the season but has just four saves since the Fourth of July. He simply can't compete with the top closers in terms of ERA (3.43), but he has no competition for saves, and the Cardinals refuse to go quietly and keep winning close games.

I mentioned Jeff Hoffman and Luke Weaver in the opening, but perhaps the biggest winner at the trade deadline in terms of lightly rostered closers is Grant Taylor.

Taylor is still just 28% rostered, but should get the majority of save opportunities for the White Sox down the stretch. Chicago added Huascar Brazoban to strengthen their pen, but Taylor is easily the most talented high-leverage guy between him, Sean Newcomb, and Bryan Hudson. Don't be surprised if he goes on a late-season run and racks up a bunch of saves for a surprisingly good White Sox club, though it probably won't be enough to put him in the conversation for the top ten list.

In case this is the last edition of the closer rankings, thanks for reading, and good luck in your leagues down the stretch!

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