In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a game finished (denoted by GF) if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a game. A starting pitcher is not credited with a GF for pitching a complete game.
Mariano Rivera [1] [2] [3] is the all-time leader in games finished with 952. Rivera is the only pitcher in MLB history to finish more than 900 career games. Trevor Hoffman [4] and Lee Smith [5] are the only other pitchers to finish more than 800 games in their careers.
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career games finished. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player | Name of the player |
GF | Total career games finished |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes an active player [note 1] |
Rank | Player | GF |
---|---|---|
1 | Mariano Rivera* | 952 |
2 | Trevor Hoffman* | 856 |
3 | Lee Smith* | 802 |
4 | John Franco | 774 |
5 | Rollie Fingers* | 709 |
6 | Billy Wagner | 703 |
7 | Jeff Reardon | 695 |
8 | Goose Gossage* | 681 |
9 | Francisco Rodríguez | 677 |
10 | Roberto Hernández | 667 |
11 | Kenley Jansen (0) | 653 |
12 | Craig Kimbrel (0) | 651 |
Hoyt Wilhelm* | 651 | |
14 | Doug Jones | 640 |
15 | Kent Tekulve | 638 |
16 | Sparky Lyle | 634 |
17 | José Mesa | 633 |
18 | Todd Jones | 619 |
19 | Gene Garber | 609 |
20 | Fernando Rodney | 590 |
21 | Joe Nathan | 587 |
22 | Jonathan Papelbon | 585 |
23 | Dennis Eckersley* | 577 |
Lindy McDaniel | 577 | |
25 | Francisco Cordero | 575 |
26 | Roy Face | 574 |
27 | Rick Aguilera | 557 |
28 | Dan Quisenberry | 553 |
29 | Mike Marshall | 549 |
Jeff Montgomery | 549 | |
Robb Nen | 549 | |
32 | Tom Henke | 548 |
Randy Myers | 548 | |
34 | Troy Percival | 546 |
35 | Tug McGraw | 541 |
36 | Armando Benítez | 527 |
37 | Huston Street | 525 |
38 | John Wetteland | 523 |
39 | José Valverde | 520 |
40 | Rod Beck | 519 |
41 | Aroldis Chapman (0) | 517 |
42 | Bruce Sutter* | 512 |
43 | Bob Wickman | 511 |
44 | Don McMahon | 505 |
45 | Jesse Orosco | 501 |
46 | Jason Isringhausen | 499 |
47 | Dave Righetti | 474 |
48 | Mike Timlin | 467 |
49 | Ron Perranoski | 458 |
50 | Todd Worrell | 456 |
Rank | Player | GF |
---|---|---|
51 | Bill Campbell | 455 |
52 | Mark Melancon | 454 |
53 | Gregg Olson | 447 |
54 | Steve Bedrosian | 439 |
55 | Mike Henneman | 432 |
Dave Smith | 432 | |
57 | Roger McDowell | 430 |
58 | Joakim Soria | 427 |
59 | Mike Jackson | 422 |
Dan Plesac | 422 | |
61 | Willie Hernández | 419 |
Mitch Williams | 419 | |
63 | Darold Knowles | 417 |
64 | Ted Abernathy | 416 |
65 | Greg Minton | 415 |
66 | Ugueth Urbina | 408 |
67 | Keith Foulke | 406 |
Stu Miller | 406 | |
69 | Raisel Iglesias (0) | 402 |
70 | Eddie Guardado | 401 |
71 | Gary Lavelle | 399 |
72 | Jeff Shaw | 384 |
73 | Kevin Gregg | 382 |
74 | Brian Fuentes | 381 |
Dave LaRoche | 381 | |
76 | Dave Giusti | 380 |
77 | Jeff Brantley | 379 |
78 | Bob Stanley | 377 |
79 | Clay Carroll | 373 |
LaTroy Hawkins | 373 | |
81 | Tom Burgmeier | 370 |
82 | Brad Lidge | 368 |
83 | John Hiller | 363 |
Mike Stanton | 363 | |
85 | Danny Graves | 360 |
Jay Howell | 360 | |
87 | J. J. Putz | 357 |
88 | Bobby Thigpen | 356 |
89 | Greg Holland | 355 |
90 | David Robertson (0) | 353 |
91 | Jim Brewer | 351 |
92 | Tom Gordon | 347 |
93 | Edwin Díaz (0) | 346 |
94 | Eddie Fisher | 344 |
95 | Rafael Soriano | 343 |
96 | Frank Linzy | 342 |
97 | Ron Davis | 340 |
Jeff Russell | 340 | |
99 | Ron Kline | 338 |
100 | Mark Clear | 337 |
In baseball, a save is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain circumstances. A save can be earned by entering a game in which his team is leading by three or fewer runs and finishing the game by pitching at least one inning without losing the lead; entering the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases and finishing the game; or by pitching at least three innings in relief and finishing the game regardless of how many runs your team was winning by when entering the game. The number of saves or percentage of save opportunities successfully converted are oft-cited statistics of relief pitchers, particularly those in the closer role. The save statistic was created by journalist Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic in 1969. The save has been retroactively tabulated for pitchers before that date. Mariano Rivera is MLB's all-time leader in regular-season saves with 652, while Francisco Rodríguez earned the most saves in a single season with 62 in 2008.
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons. A thirteen-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in saves (652) and games finished (952). Rivera won five American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award four times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and is to date the only player ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection, high pitch count, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather delays or pinch hitter substitutions. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as closers, setup men, middle relief pitchers, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. Whereas starting pitchers usually throw so many pitches in a single game that they must rest several days before pitching in another, relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch in more games with a shorter time period between pitching appearances but with fewer innings pitched per appearance. A team's staff of relievers is normally referred to metonymically as a team's bullpen, which refers to the area where the relievers sit during games, and where they warm-up prior to entering the game.
John Anthony Franco is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed relief pitcher between 1984 and 2005. Franco established himself as an All-Star player with the Cincinnati Reds before spending the majority of his career with the New York Mets. He ended his 21-year career with one final season with the Houston Astros.
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In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 300 save club is the group of pitchers who have recorded 300 or more regular-season saves in their careers. Most commonly a relief pitcher earns a save by being the final pitcher of a game in which his team is winning by three or fewer runs and pitching at least one inning without losing the lead. The final pitcher of a game can earn a save by getting at least one batter out to end the game with the tying run on base, at bat, or on deck, or by pitching the last three innings without relinquishing the lead, regardless of score. The statistic was created by Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official statistic by MLB in 1969. The save has been retroactively measured for past pitchers where applicable. Hoyt Wilhelm retired in 1972 and recorded just 31 saves from 1969 onwards, for example, but holds 228 total career saves.
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