What constitutes a save situation?
I always thought as long as you’re winning and a guy pitches the ninth who isn’t a starter (no complete games/no hitters etc.) that it was a save…but I’m apparently wrong.
What are the rules for that?
[QUOTE=MLB Rule 10.19]
The official scorer shall credit a pitcher with a save when such pitcher meets all four of the following conditions:
(a) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team;
(b) He is not the winning pitcher;
(c) He is credited with at least a third of an inning pitched; and
(d) He satisfies one of the following conditions:
(1) He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning;
(2) He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat or on deck (that is, the potential tying run is either already on base or is one of the first two batters he faces); or
(3) He pitches for at least three innings.
[/QUOTE]
Conditions (d)(1) and (d)(2) are most commonly invoked. Condition (d)(2) is the one I hear quoted the most, in part because many save situations can be either (d)(1) or (d)(2), as the closer will often enter a 1 or 2 run game at the start of the 9th, which will meet both criteria, assuming that the tying run isn’t allowed to score.
The primary difference between the rules and your understanding, Sir T, is that a pitcher who finishes a game that his team is winning by a lot does not get a save, unless he pitches the last 3 innings.
Exactly. The “three-run lead / three innings” part of the save rule means that the pitcher has to either (a) finish the game when the score is close enough that pitching effectively is particularly important, or (b) pitch long enough that, even if he comes in with a big lead, if he weren’t effective, he could give up the lead.
I have to imagine that the (d)(3) variety of saves is pretty rare, given how modern managers use relief pitchers.
You would be correct.
Number of three-inning-variety saves from here (an early-2011 article):
2001: 35
2002: 26
2003: 31
2004: 20
2005: 14
2006: 15
2007: 16
2008: 16
2009: 13
2010: 4
2011: 1
Some prior history from the same article:
This is the best 3-inning save of all time:
That’s awesome. I love Brian Burres’ line … 8 earned runs allowed in 2/3 of an inning pitched. I think he was the one that needed saving.
There are many things that are awesome about that box score, one of which is Paul Shuey’s 2 inning, 9 ER performance not moving the WPA needle even 0.001 since they were down 21-3 at the time.
Wow! Nice cite **Jas09! **I knew the 3 inning save was uncommon these days but those stats really illustrate that fact.
The greatest save I remeber was this one*:
Rod Nichols (Cleveland Indians) started the 6th inning of a one run game and proceded to pitch 4 innings of 2 hit, shutout baseball.
- And the only reason I remember it was because I had him on my roto team
I seem to recall that part (a) of the rule was not always the case, and that, if two or more pitchers “qualified” for a save, it was up to the official scorer to make the decision (rule 10.17(b) still says that the Official Scorer decides who is the winning pitcher is if the winning team’s starter was pitching when the team took the lead for good but he didn’t pitch at least five innings).