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Fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for closers, saves, and bullpen arms for Postseason Week 1 (2024). David's relief pitcher and bullpen updates, and closers to add.
Congrats to all of you who won, placed, showed, or even just had fun in your fantasy leagues this season! We hope we were able to help you get the best out of your lineups from draft day until the last time you set your lineups. It was another very interesting season of baseball, for sure.
Most fantasy leagues may be done, but DFS and sports betting are still going strong, so we'll keep the bullpen news coming through to the World Series. The report will be a little different, but we're still here for you with all the bullpen news that could be relevant as the postseason hums along!
All that and more in this week's report! Be sure to also keep an eye on our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts for saves, holds, and bullpens. They will be updated daily or sometimes even more often throughout the 2024 baseball season.
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Bullpen and Closer Recap
Saves
I sincerely thought we'd see our first 50-save season since 2018 this year, but two pitchers fell just short. Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians took second place with 47 saves and Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals finished in first with 49. Kyle Finnegan of the Nationals (38) and Robert Suarez of the Padres (36) round out the top four.
Ryan Helsley, Vicious Sliders. 😤 pic.twitter.com/WZVhD8JdKR
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 29, 2024
Holds
Holds are a relatively newly kept stat, so the records don't go all that far back. The current single-season record for holds is 41, held by both Joel Peralta from 2013 and Tony Watson from 2015.
This season, our holds leaders were Bryan Abreu of the Astros with 38, Andrew Kittredge of the Cardinals with 37, and then David Robertson of the Rangers and Yennier Cano of the Orioles with 34 each.
Bryan Abreu, 99mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/XUZFRQ5G0J
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 2, 2024
Blown Saves
Blown saves aren't only credited to closers, as any high-leverage appearance can result in a blown save. This year's leader (by far) was Clay Holmes of the Yankees with 13. He was followed by four pitchers who had eight each: Ryan Pressly of the Astros, JoJo Romero of the Cardinals, David Robertson of the Rangers, and Jalen Beeks of the Rockies and Pirates.
Wyatt Langford walk off grand slam off Clay Holmes! 💥pic.twitter.com/qKyzVG8bvT
— Baseball’s Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) September 4, 2024
Playoff Bullpen News
Pitching rotations and bullpen hierarchies are often a mess in the postseason, but someone's got to take the high-leverage innings (of which there seem to be way more in October). Here's a look at each remaining team's bullpens:
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers have Tarik Skubal, an absolute ace. Besides him, they have "bullpen chaos" as the pitching plan. It worked wonderfully in Game 2 of the Wild Card series, as they buzzed the Astros out of the playoffs by using seven pitchers, none of whom got more than five outs.
For leverage purposes, Jason Foley figures to be the guy in Detroit, but Tyler Holton (the starter for that bullpen game), Will Vest, and Beau Brieske will see exciting innings as well.
Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians bullpen will be well-rested after the break while other teams had to play in the Wild Card round. It is led by one of the best relievers pitchers in baseball, Emmanuel Clase. He pitched 74 1/3 innings this season, allowing just five earned runs all season, and never more than one run in an outing.
Clase is the clear best reliever in the playoffs, and he'll be helped out in leverage situations by Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals lost 106 games last season. This year, not only are they in the playoffs, but they're already through to the AL Division Series. Lucas Erceg was picked up at the trade deadline and has been excellent as a Royal, pitching 25 innings while allowing just eight earned runs, striking out 31, and walking only three.
Erceg will pitch as the highest-leverage reliever for Kansas City, and he'll get help from Kris Bubic and John Schreiber in earlier innings. The Royals closer was a two-way player in college but came into his pro career as an infielder. It's been fun seeing him carve out a key role on the mound.
New York Yankees
As already mentioned above, the Yankees had the league leader in blown saves, Clay Holmes, as their closer for most of the season. Toward the end of the year, though, Holmes was relieved of his duties, and a committee was formed. At least for a little bit before Luke Weaver took over.
Weaver presumably enters the playoffs as the team's closer and will be helped out by Tommy Kahnle, Ian Hamilton, Jake Cousins, and possibly even Holmes in an earlier role.
San Diego Padres
The Padres steamrolled right through the overmatched Braves in the Wild Card series and now will play in the NL Division Series against their neighbors two counties away, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres bullpen features Robert Suarez, who finished fourth in the league with 36 saves, and Tanner Scott, who was the top relief option available at the trade deadline.
Suarez and Scott will make a powerful 1-2 punch in the late innings, and they'll get help from the other Padres leverage guys like Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers had some ups and downs this season, but at the end of it all, they finished up with the best record in baseball at 98-64. They had 14 different pitchers record a save this season, with Evan Phillips leading the way with 18. Phillips had some struggles and knocked himself out of the ninth inning, however.
Michael Kopech, acquired at the deadline, was serving at least as the head of the committee and should retain that role into the postseason. Blake Treinen and Phillips, along with Joe Kelly and Daniel Hudson, are the leverage guys we'll see coming out of the Los Angeles bullpen.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies were excellent in 2024, finishing up with the league's second-best record in the regular season. They come into the playoffs well-rested and with a bullpen that will feature some of the toughest pitchers to hit in the playoffs.
Carlos Estevez will close most games, as he did since being acquired at the deadline. Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, Jose Alvarado, and Orion Kerkering will all see key moments on the mound as well.
New York Mets
The Brewers/Mets Wild Card series is the only one that went three games, so we got to see a little more of each team along the way. Both teams had solidified closers in Edwin Diaz for New York and Devin Williams for Milwaukee. Somehow, however, the Mets managed to put up four runs on Williams in 2/3 of an inning, after he'd allowed just three in 21 2/3 during the regular season.
Diaz had a solid enough season outside of a brief stretch of struggles, saving 20 games but missing time due to injury. He wasn't the top tier elite Edwin Diaz from before his injury, but he was still more than passable. Diaz will be set up by Adam Ottavino, Jose Butto, and Reed Garrett.
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