In 15 trips to the postseason, Rivera has held the best hitters on the best teams on earth, in the most important games of his career, to this remarkable slash line: .176/.213/.229. When we went searching for any active hitter who hits like that, you know who we came up with? Zach Duke (.176/.205/.217). Yeah, he's a pitcher. When we confined that search only to active position players, we got Drew Butera (.172/.209/.252). In other words, when the Yankees have sent this man to the mound in October, he's turned EVERY hitter he's faced into the equivalent of a good-fielding, light-hitting back-up catcher, or a pitcher with a half-decent clue about what that piece of ash is used for. Unreal.
(emphasis mine)
I am far from a Yankees fan, one might even say I hate the team, but even with that the case I cannot deny the greatness that is Mariano Rivera. With a career WHIP under 1.000 (.998) and career aERA+ of 206 one has to be amazed by this future Hall of Famer. Rivera just broke the career saves lead last week and I that is just one more feather in the cap of the best reliever to ever play the game. See you in Cooperstown sir, you make that number 42 proud.
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