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Mariano Rivera: Is the New York Yankees Closer Better Than Ever at 40?

February 23, 2011   ·     ·   Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees

For years now we at Yankees ‘n More have been writing, at one point or another during the given baseball season, that Mariano Rivera seems to be getting better with age. In an excellent post to his 3UP blog at the New York Post, Joel Sherman has the numbers to back up our contention.

From Sherman’s Post:

“But here is yet another remarkable fact about Rivera: He is arguably as good as ever and showing few signs of losing effectiveness (so maybe he really can pitch until he is 50). Over the past three years, Rivera has a 1.64 ERA. It is not only the best in the majors for that period (minimum 150 appearances), but it is the best three-year run at any time in Rivera’s Hall of Fame career. Think about that, his age 38-40 seasons have been better – at least ERA wise – than any other three-year run in his career.

“The second-best was a 1.66 he put up from 2003-05 (his age 33-35 seasons). He put up a 1.71 from 2004-06 (34-36) and a 1.87 from 1997-99 (27-29). The only other time he was under 2.00 for a three-year period was his first three seasons as a full-time closer, 1996-98, when Rivera posted a 1.98 ERA.”

One of these years, of course, Rivera will be done, either by choice or age (finally) catching up to him. Some day, and sooner rather than later, the New York Yankees are going to be forced to find a way to win without one of the greatest advantages the game has ever seen.

Count that as just one more reason why the very thought of declaring an Ivan Nova or Eduardo Nunez the deal-breaker in a potential Cliff Lee trade last season was utter nonsense. When you have a chance to basically lock down another World Series title before Mo drifts off into retirement or ineffectiveness, you don’t let guys like Nova or Nunez stand in the way!

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