# Mariano Rivera needs just one more perfect inning. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 27, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835 "2013-09-27T20:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/1 "2013-09-27T20:27:35Z")
To finish his career with a WHIP under 1. He currently has a combined hits/walks total of 1284 in 1283.2 innings. [From here:](http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9717908/a-21-stat-salute-mariano-rivera) > [@](#): > > Just so it’s clear what this means, the only pitchers in history who have ever done that, while working 1,000 innings or more, are Addie Joss (0.97), who last pitched in 1910, and Big Ed Walsh (0.9996), who last threw a pitch in 1917. The closest anyone else has come in the past 95 years: Pedro Martinez (at 1.05). Pretty cool. I hope it happens. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/2 "2013-09-27T20:37:53Z")
Well he should get 1 more inning in Houston and he may well get his 1st inning in Center Field in one of these last 3 games. I hope he gets both. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/3 "2013-09-28T06:19:45Z")
To put it another way, if he faces one more batter and retires him, he’ll have a career WHIP of exactly 1. I don’t think it’s going to happen, though. They let Robertson get the save tonight, and after last night an appearance in a meaningless game against the Astros might be an anticlimax. I think this is how things ended for Ted Williams, too: he homered in his last home at-bat and then rode the pine for a couple of road games. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/4 "2013-09-29T04:42:51Z")
[He won’t pitch again and won’t play the outfield either.](http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/9739328/mariano-rivera-new-york-yankees-take-field-again?ex_cid=espnapi_public) Which seems like a good thing since he hurt himself so badly in the outfield last year. So he’ll have a career WHIP of … I guess it depends on how you calculate it, but I think YES said 1.001. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/5 "2013-09-29T05:55:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think this is how things ended for Ted Williams, too: he homered in his last home at-bat and then rode the pine for a couple of road games. Williams homered in Boston’s last home game and did not accompany the team on its final road trip for a 3-game series in New York. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/6 "2013-09-29T14:33:08Z")
To my mind, it ain’t the career saves or the WHIP. It’s his career postseason line. 96 games pitched, 141 innings, and a 0.70 ERA. In those 141 innings he gave up two home runs (to Sandy Alomar Jr. and Jay Payton, just to give you a trivia answer.) So basically Mariano Rivera’s playoff performance is itself the greatest season a relief pitcher has ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/7 "2013-09-29T20:01:43Z")
Actually, he just needs 2 outs, not a full inning. And when you factor out the 10 horrendous starts in his first season, his lifetime ratios are a 2.057 ERA and a 0.892 WHIP. Of course, that’s not how it works - but it does show what a ridiculously amazing reliever he was. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/8 "2013-10-02T02:16:34Z")
Really, I can’t imagine why he’s retiring, except that perhaps there is a better league somewhere. He was pretty much just as awesome this year as he ever is. If he wanted to he could probably keep pitching like this until he’s 50. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/9 "2013-10-02T03:01:20Z")
I think he was just ready to go. And in that article he does make it sound like his body was giving out on him even though it didn’t look that way very often. There were one or two uncharacteristic rough patches but he still had a solid year. ---
**Author:** ![qasim555](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qasim555/32/7314_2.png) [@qasim555](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qasim555)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariano-rivera-needs-just-one-more-perfect-inning/669835/10 "2013-10-02T06:51:12Z")
Really i imagine his ratting well done.