If Mariano Rivera's career was to end this second would you consider him the greatest reliever of all time?

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RIP BOBBY MURCER

Answer 1

No i think hoffman is still better than him

Answer 2

Duh.

Answer 3

i think that trevor hoffman and dennis eckersley are in that discussion, but ultimately mariano prevails.

i think the fact that mariano is still going is not something to be overlooked. getting 2-3 "mariano-like" seasons out of a reliever is not that rare.

Gagne had some seasons where he compared

Lidge had that spectacular season in Houston, and is having another now

Smoltz had a few good seasons as a closer

Foulke had a couple great years

with all of these guys, however, it was 2-3 'mariano-like' seasons of dominance and then they faded. and the list goes way further than the 4 i listed above.

mariano however has been putting up those numbers for 13 years.

Answer 4

Rivera is, to date, the greatest closer in MLB history bar none.

Answer 5

No.  Rivera is considered great because of the post season.  Red Sox and Diamondbacks have proven he's very hittable in the post season.  Greatest of all time?  Eck or Hoffman

Answer 6

i'll keep it simple h*ll yeah

Answer 7

Yes.

Answer 8

YES, has everything including championships

Answer 9

That is a good question, but it's only by opinion that will answer this question. I haven't seen as many relievers as others may have so this might be a little thrown. But I would consider him to be the greatest reliever I have seen. Mo tied a record by saving for Pettite for like 65 times I believe. (correct me if am wrong) So with that I think he deserves the title.

Answer 10

Of course not, as he is not really a reliever.

He is the best closer of all time, however, and worth every dollar he earns.

Answer 11

yes inning for inning he is the best

its not even up for discusion

and please

please

please

dont ever

DONT EVER!

EVER

EVER

EVER

EVER

EVER

Put trevor hoffman in the same category as mariano rivera

hoffman is famous for blowing saves in important games frequently and dersa differnce beetween closing in san diego n new york

rivera has a era of 0.77 not just in a small sample size 117.1 innings

has closed out 3 world series and bad luck caused a lil bloop  hit to lose one mariano never gets hit hard das why its so amazing

the man is 38 and is HAVINg his BEST SEASON YET

Best closer in 08 no blown saves

the nerve of papelbon to say he had da rite to close out that game

Mariano=the greatest of all time

Answer 12

probably top 3 with Goose and Eckersley (in no specific order)

Answer 13

Yes, not only because he's my favorite, but his playoff stats are just out of this world, he's the man you always see with that final pitch to give the Yankees the championship, so yes, he would be.

Answer 14

In a word, YES!

Answer 15

Saves are so wishy washy now a days.  He got a 4 pitch save the other day.  He doesn't have any 2 innings saves anymore, probably not since his 1st two years (one as a setup man)

He's had only 6 games this year that extend out beyond 1 inning.

All 3 times he went 2 innings, it looks like they went into extra innings and he got the win in 2 of them.

I'm certain he will go into the HOF on the first go round, but, given that Dennis Eckersley,

He got 390 saves after his starting career gave him 150 wins.

Ecks relief votes were 2,6,5,1 for Cy Young and 5,5,6,1 for the MVP.

Mo has done well in Cy Young voting at 3,3,3,2, but cracked the top 10 in MVP 2x at 9,9

So, while he may be top 5 (and I would be counting guys like Rollie Fingers in there with far fewer saves, but much more impressive quality), I don't know if I give him #1.

Answer 16

I know that Trevor Hoffman has more saves right now than Mo, but I would still take Mo ahead of Hoffman as the greatest closer of all time.  Look at guys like Papelbon who I believe is the future of the role and they all refer to Rivera as "The Godfather" of the position.  Not Hoffman.  When the rival team's closer refers to you as the greatest and shows that kind of respect, I think it's hard not to put him as the greatest.  Haven't heard that kind of respect from Hoffman's peers.

Answer 17

I think he is but it's my opinion & Eckersley & Hoffman have to be mentioned too

Answer 18

Absolutely!  His saves, as we look as his entire body of work, were more meaningful, more often, than any relief pitcher who ever lived.

Answer 19

absolutely. hes the greatest there is

Answer 20

No slam on Rivera who is a great pitcher, but the game has changed too much for him to be considered the greatest relief pitcher ever.

Rich "Goose" Gossage is the best relief pitcher ever because he could work the 9th inning, slamming the door.  He could also pitch the 7th, 8th, 9th innings.  He was a good relief pitcher on bad teams (Chicago White Sox); a great pitcher on a good team (Pittsburgh Pirates), and an even more dominant pitcher on several great teams (NY Yankees).

As Gossage was more versatile and did not pad his statistics only pitching in games when his team had the lead, he is the better relief pitcher --- The Best of All Time

Answer 21

YES, I would put him in the Hall Of Fame too.

Answer 22

Maybe not the greatest reliever because of his lack of pitching multiple innings but absolutely the greatest closer of Yankee history and maybe MLB.

Dude, The passing of Bobby Murcer is a shock to all of us but dang let the guy Rest In Peace. Get his name off your subjects its kinda getting annoying. Not trying to offend you or anything but man, its getting old.

I want the guy to Rest in Pece but you guys are not allowing him.

Answer 23

Hoffman is number 1 right now.

Answer 24

Yes.

Without a doubt.

His ERA is unmatched.

Plus, if they had a stat for "most broken bats" he'd totally dominate it.

Answer 25

It's honestly hard to say.  He has fewer saves than Trevor Hoffman, but a better ERA.  Also, with closers, it's very hard to compare closers nowadays (used mostly for 1 inning, 3 outs) with those of a generation ago.  Just to illustrate this: Rivera has average 1.15 innings per appearance over his career (excluding his rookie year, when he made 10 starts), while Goose Gossage averaged over 1.50 - i.e., almost 25% more.

Overall, Rivera's name would have to be mentioned as being among the greatest of all time, but it's really difficult to say whether he's overall better than Trevor Hoffman, let alone guys who played 20 or 30 years ago.

Answer 26

I've only followed MLB baseball for 2 years now,but I think Rivera is the greatest from my perspective.

I'm out peace.

Answer 27

There is such a small margin of difference between any of the great MLB players, now in in the past, it would be next to impossible for me to clearly say one is better than another.  However, what I will say is that no one is better than Rivera on his best days and I am comfortable placing him in the elite top five relief pitchers to ever play the game.

Answer 28

YES YES YES YES YES