Brandon League: Seattle Mariners Closer Earns AL Worst of the Night Honors

There are some closers who like to make things interesting when they come in to record a save. Seattle Mariners closer Brandon League is one of them.

Sometimes, he makes things a little too interesting.

League entered Thursday's tilt against the Cleveland Indians with respectable numbers, including eight saves and a 2.12 ERA. His WHIP didn't look too great, though, and he already had two blown saves next to his name.

He added a third on Thursday, and it was easily his worst blown save yet.

League had his number called in the bottom of the 11th after Michael Saunders had given the Mariners a 5-4 lead with an RBI double to left center. He was due to face the 9-1-2 portion of Cleveland's lineup, a task Herculean in difficulty.

He screwed it up anyway. League started the inning by walking Jose Lopez, who is batting in the low .200s this year. League would get the first out of the inning by striking out Shin-Soo Choo, but not before he advanced Lopez to second base with a wild pitch.

League then walked Jason Kipnis to put runners on first and second with one out, setting up No. 3 hitter Asdrubal Cabrera for a game-tying RBI single.

Aaron Cunningham, another hitter batting in the low .200s for the tribe this year, was brought in to pinch-hit for Travis Hafner. League walked him too, putting runners on first and second for Carlos Santana.

I did my best to come up with some kind of music-themed joke to put here, but I came up empty. So I'll just keep it simple: Santana punched a single to center field, giving the Indians (excuse me, Windians) a walk-off win. MLB.com has the video highlight.

League's final line looks like one of mine from a recent slow-pitch softball game: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 26 P, 9 S.

In the process, League's ERA jumped from 2.12 all the way to 3.12, and his WHIP is all the way up top 1.44.

Want more ugly numbers? Very well.

League is not an elite strikeout artist, but this year his K/9 has sunk all the way to 5.19. Just as concerning is the fact that his BB/9 is also 5.19. He's just not fooling hitters, which is something that's reflected in his decreased percentage of swinging strikes. It was 10.4 percent last year, and 6.8 percent this year.

Conclusion: League is having a rough season. That'll be five bucks for my trouble.

For his efforts on Thursday night, I am awarding League with the American League "Worst of the Night" award. May he wear it forever in shame.

If he doesn't shape up, I fear I may end up giving it to him again sometime in the future, and I don't want to do that. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I'm a nice guy.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for AL "Worst of the Night" award, hit me up on Twitter.