Welcome to Closing Time.

Hello, and welcome to Closing Time. This weblog will focus upon major league baseball's "Closers" - those relief pitchers responsible for getting the final three outs of close games.

Although today's top closers are highly paid household names, and an effective closer is considered to be a virtual requirement for any contending team, the concept of a "closer" is relatively new. As recently as the early 1980s, teams used their bullpens very differently - some would say, more effectively. In the 1970s, a top reliever like Goose Gossage would be used whenever the manager absolutely, positively needed some outs from the pen - whether that was the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning.

Today, the closer is almost exclusively used in save situations, and ONLY in save situations. As such, most teams find themselves trotting their top reliever out to protect 3-run leads with the bases empty in the 9th - while using a less-talented middle reliever to face an opposing slugger with 2 on, and 2 out in the 7th. It can be argued that the adoption of the "save" statistic has dramatically altered the decision-making process of every manager in the major leagues!

While the statisticians argue that a highly-paid, 9th-inning-only closer is an inefficient use of resources, (after all, if a guy can get outs in the 7th, he should be able to get them in the 9th, right?), the old-school scouting types disagree. As Yogi Berra noted, baseball is 90% mental, and the other half physical. It takes a pitcher with a special mental makeup to get the final three outs of a major league baseball game. Bullpens around the league are littered with pitchers who, rightly or wrongly, have acquired the reputation that they can't get outs in the ninth. For instance the Chicago Cubs' LaTroy Hawkins, who has excelled throughout his career as an 8th inning setup man, failed in spectacular fashion when promoted to closer in 2004.

The prototype closer is a frightening, towering beast of a man with a high 90's fastball and some sort of intimidating facial hair. (Goatees are preferred, but feel free to get creative.)

Over the course of the 2005 MLB season, Closing Time will keep a close watch on who is the last man out of the pen for each club, who is performing well - and whose closer roles may be in jeopardy. (That should come in handy for fantasy baseball owners hunting for saves.) We'll also run features about the greatest closers of all time, and the greatest seasons by relievers, and, well, anything else MLB related that comes along.

So stay tuned - our 2005 Closer Preview will be coming along shortly.