Projecting Rest of Season Top 10 Closers in 2026 Fantasy Baseball

May 12, 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 7 of MLB action.

Let's not sugarcoat it, the 2026 season has been a bloodbath for closers! Many of the players you thought would be racking up saves for your fantasy team are already injured or have been demoted due to poor performance.

At the same time, the void left behind by those failed closers is being filled by some opportunistic relievers who have seized the closer role. And with a lot of teams lacking an established closer entirely, we are seeing plenty of "bullpen-by-committee" approaches, as well, making the closers who do have some job security and are producing saves and solid ratios that much more valuable!

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, May 12, 2026.

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, May 10.

The first thing we have to address is the fact that Mason Miller is the runaway best value at the position. He's the top-ranked closer, but also ranks 19th overall on Yahoo's player rater. He leads the league in saves, and his 38 strikeouts in just 18.2 innings (55.9% K%) would be comical in a video game, let alone real life.

Mason Miller's FOUR Strikeouts in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/2iT7RvYrK3

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 10, 2026

He also has a massive 68% ground ball rate, and somehow his ERA indicators are even lower (xERA of 0.72, SIERA of 0.63) than his 0.96 ERA. It feels like he can't be this dominant all season, but even a repeat of his numbers from last year the rest of the way is likely enough for him to lap the field in closer production.

Rico Garcia is a bit of a surprise here, considering he has only three saves on the season. But his ratios have been superb, and the underlying numbers back them. I am skeptical, however, as he's never been this dominant in his career and is a 32-year old journeyman on his seventh MLB team, and second go-round with Baltimore.

Riley O'Brien has been superb for the Cardinals, and I was able to nab him off the wire in a few leagues this year. He's establishing himself as a reliable option, and the Cardinals have been better than most people expected, providing him with ample save opportunities.

Bryan Baker, Cade Smith, and Lucas Erceg are the other three closers with double-digit saves (David Bednar also has ten, but doesn't make the list due to some poor ratios). I love that Baker is getting a shot at closing this year after he had a career year as a high-leverage set-up man in Baltimore and Tampa last year. There's really no one else in that Tampa pen who seems like a threat, so look for him to continue to be the guy.

The same goes for Cade Smith, whose ratios are a bit higher than we'd like, but he's still nailing down saves for Cleveland. He flourished as a set-up guy in front of Emmanuel Clase for the last two seasons and has earned the opportunity to be the closer for the Guardians.

Erceg is the guy I worry about the most. The saves have been there, and the former Royals' closer Carlos Estevez continues to deal with arm issues as he hit the IL yet again last week. But Erceg sticks out here like a sore thumb in that he just doesn't miss bats like a traditional closer (20.9% K%, 7.7% SwStr%). He's also walking 18% of hitters, which is a recipe for an eventual implosion. His SIERA of 5.07 is easily the worst of the top ten, and it feels like it's simply a matter of time before he sees some regression.

Aroldis Chapman since the start of last season:

73.0 IP
99 SO
39 SV
1.11 ERA
0.73 WHIP

The only closer with 15+ saves and a sub-2.00 ERA in that time. pic.twitter.com/SoOphzMd0m

— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 5, 2026

Aroldis Chapman is the ageless wonder who, at age 38, continues to lock down games for Boston this year. It's pretty impressive how he's moved back into elite closer territory after it looked like he was trending towards being a setup man or committee closer a few years ago. There's probably some regression coming to his ratios (3.85 xERA, 18.5% Barrel%), but the strikeouts continue to look strong (34% K%, 16.1% SwStr%).

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 ten closers by the end of the season.

Projecting Miller to stick in the top spot is easy, but how the rest of the top ten will shake out is much more challenging. I really love what Louis Varland is doing in Toronto since he took over as their closer. I was a pretty big fan of his as a starting pitching prospect in Minnesota, and I think he's really found his niche as a reliever. Jeff Hoffman isn't unseating him any time soon, unless Varland happens to really struggle.

Yuck! Louis Varland is only behind Mason Miller in RP fWAR. 13 IP, 0 ER, 13.15 K/9, 0.92 FIP… pic.twitter.com/rCnXS7y2p0

— Sam Fosberg (@discussbaseball) April 24, 2026

With the Jays being a good team and Varland pitching at a high level, I see a path to where he finishes with 30+ saves, even though he only has five right now, since he didn't start the year in that role.

The other closer worth mentioning here is Gregory Soto of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Soto started the season as the setup man to Dennis Santana, but he's been much more effective and now has settled in with two saves in the last week. His stuff is significantly better than Santana's, and the only other guy in the Pirates bullpen who has been as good as Soto is fellow lefty Mason Montgomery, who doesn't have the same amount of experience in high-leverage situations as the 31-year-old veteran who saved 30 games for the Tigers in 2022.

If we jump outside the current top-ten, a few pitchers who could slide up into the rankings are Jhoan Duran of the Phillies and Tanner Scott of the Dodgers. Duran missed some time with an injury, and the Phillies also slumped early, which is why he has only five saves, but his advanced stats look great across the board.

Scott struggled at times as the Dodgers' closer last year, but has made the most of a second chance this year since free agent acquisition Edwin Diaz has been hurt. With Diaz now on the 60-day IL, Scott should continue to get opportunities to close for L.A., and I think we see his saves total jump in a hurry, with the Dodgers' offense and starting rotation likely providing plenty of save opportunities going forward.

So I have Garcia and Erceg dropping out of the top ten, and a few names here to mention as "honorable mentions," too.

Daniel Palencia is back as the Cubs' closer after missing three weeks with a lat strain. He could easily sneak into the top ten if the Cubs keep winning at a high rate. Seranthony Dominguez has nine saves for the White Sox in 11 opportunities. While everyone wants Grant Taylor to be the closer, the White Sox don't seem to be in any hurry to make that happen, and Dominguez has been reliable enough to hold onto the gig.

Jacob Latz did a nice job for Texas with four saves. He's a converted starter and a lefty, so certainly not the guy we expected to be the answer to the closer situation for the Rangers, but the rest of their bullpen is a bit of a mess, so who knows?

And there's still a very good chance that someone who isn't even closing for a team right now seizes a job at some point in the coming months and pushes their way into the top ten! This year's field of closers is about as weak as we have seen in a long time, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if that actually happened.

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