HOUSTON — No. 1 is easy.
Mariano Rivera is not only the greatest closer of all time. He is the best postseason reliever as well.
Being good at one doesn’t necessarily equate to the other, as Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel reveal with October regularity.
But after yet another brilliant — and easily overlooked — multi-inning performance by Ryan Pressly to help the Astros win ALCS Game 5, he must be in consideration for the second-best postseason reliever ever.
Pressly has the combination of bulk (sixth-most postseason relief appearances ever), accomplishment, championship pedigree and lack of bad moments to elevate into this conversation. In fact, he has avoided the horrific moment like no other regularly used playoff reliever — he is 14-for-14 in saves, 3-0 in decisions and his worst meltdown in 46 appearances came when the Astros already trailed in Game 2 of the 2019 World Series.
There is a persistent debate within the game if clutch exists. The conversation often is around hitters, on occasion starting pitching. But what do we make of a very good reliever (Pressly is a two-time All-Star) who becomes historic this time of year?
“Clutch is something that’s hard to measure and define, but I think we all know it and recognize it when we see it,” Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said.
“They are the guys that don’t get out of themselves — out of their normal habits and routines when the big moments are there. Press is one of those guys — it’s not too big for him. He’s willing to take the situation for what it is, even with the pitch clock, and kind of relax, step back, breathe and focus on each pitch.”
Now, deciding the best postseason relievers is tricky. For much of the game’s history, relievers were banished starters who managers were looking to avoid.
Also, usage patterns have mattered.
The right answer to the second-best ever might be Rollie Fingers, but how do you factor that the Hall of Famer was coming in as early as the fifth inning on occasion and some of his worst outings were when he was asked to pitch three or more frames?
We are at least two decades into the bullpen era and about 10 years into the just grip it and rip it age. So the job and approach is different from what Fingers was doing.
Also, there are just so many more playoff rounds to accumulate, good and bad. And Pressly’s ability to accumulate basically all good since joining the Astros in 2018 resonates.
For example, Dennis Eckersley and Brad Lidge both were generally brilliant at this time of year in large samples, but they also gave up historic homers among their few blowups. There is a lot of good (and some bad) from Wade Davis, Mike Stanton and often Kenley Jansen.
Pressly has the fifth-most postseason saves behind Rivera (42), Jansen (20), Lidge (18) and Eckersley (15). But only Rivera (23) has a longer streak without blowing a save in the postseason than Pressly’s 14, all recorded since he became the unquestioned closer in 2020. He has a 2.22 postseason ERA, .195 batting average against and 32 percent strikeout rate.
He does what you would want any reliever to do, but particularly at playoff time — he limits walks and homers (just one in 44 ²/₃ innings).
FanGraphs has a stat called “Clutch” that measures how much better or worse a player does in the highest-leverage situations. Pressly ranks No. 1 all-time in the playoffs, Rivera is second and Davis third.
Pressly rises in critical spots. In 46 postseason at-bats with runners in scoring position, Pressly has allowed nine hits — all singles. His .196 batting average against in such situations is sixth all-time behind Stanton Rivera, Lidge, Chapman and Fingers. His OPS (.441) trails only Rivera and Fingers and ranks just ahead of Stanton and Jansen (thanks to Nate Purinton at MLB Network research for the stats).
Game 5 Friday night represents his greatest escape. He was forced into the game in the eighth inning with two on and no outs. Bryan Abreu had been ejected for hitting Adolis Garcia to trigger a benches-clearing skirmish. Intensity had risen and Houston was both on the road and on the ropes, down 4-2 and on the edge of going down three games to two.
Pressly did not permit either runner to score, registering three straight outs, including two strikeouts. Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to put Houston ahead and Pressly retained that 5-4 win even after allowing consecutive singles to open the bottom of the inning.
Altuve and the on-field fracas drew the postgame attention, overshadowing the first-ever two-inning playoff effort for Pressly.
But he was Woody Harrelson in Season 1 of “True Detective” — brilliant as always even while Matthew McConaughey was winning scenes. But that is no surprise. It is October.
“He’s just inherently a person that does not give in to pressure situations,” Miller said. “He’s not going to get rattled and start shaking and all those things that lead to bad internal thoughts that can lead to your body not producing as it normally does. He also draws from experience. He’s been doing it for a long time. We’ve been good for a long time, and he’s had the ball in a lot of key spots.”
Pressly closed a World Series win last season, and with six shutout innings in 2023 he is repeating his playoff success — making it more possible that the Astros may repeat as well.
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