"Closers" Not Helping Playoff Teams

A couple months ago, ESPN.com writer Jim Caple crafted the greatest article of all time explaining how the baseball closer is the most overrated position in sports.  If you didn't believe him then, just take a look at the line from the eight playoff closers through the first eight games of LDS action:

9.1ip, 14h, 7r, 6er, 1bb, 9k, 5.79 era, 1.61 whip

Good, right?

On Friday night, Los Angeles Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez—who earlier this year, broke the most insignificant record in baseball (the single season saves mark)—gave up two runs on four hits in the ninth inning to lose Game Two to Boston.  There was no over-the-top pointing to the sky celebration after he left the mound this time.

Just a half inning earlier, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon blew the save when he gave up a game-tying sac fly to Mark Teixeira.  In all fairness, Papelbon did enter with a runner on third and no one out and he has been the best closer this October, but isn't he supposed to stare down opposing hitters and strike all of them out to escape that jam?

In the other American League Division Series, Tampa Bay closer Dan Wheeler entered the ninth inning of Game One with a three-run lead.  He promptly gave up a leadoff homer to Paul Konerko, but still got the save because he didn't give up three. 

And this is how important Chicago White Sox closer Bobby Jenks is to the club: in the two most important games of the season, he hasn't thrown a single pitch.

Over in the National League, things aren't much better.  Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge—who earned the Comeback Player of the Year Award for not blowing a third of his saves like he did in 2007—made Phillies fans sweat through the end of Game One. 

Even though starter Cole Hamels was completely silencing Milwaukee through eight innings of shutout ball, Manager Charlie Manuel thought it would be a good idea to remove the ace from the game in favor of Lidge.  The closer surrendered two hits, a walk and a run in the ninth, but he still got the save because he didn't give up three.

Brewers closer Salomon Torres made his big contribution by pitching an insignificant ninth in Milwaukee's Game Two loss.

In the final LDS, Dodgers ninth inning man, Takashi Saito, who's returning from injury, did an excellent job in Game Two when he gave up two runs on three hits without recording an out.  L.A. still won 10-3, no thanks to Saito.

Cubs closer Kerry Wood also pitched in that game, surrendering two hits and an unearned run in a meaningless ninth.

The point is not that closers aren't sometimes needed, it's that they are far less important than the guys who play the first eight innings, and that the position is incredibly overvalued.

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's New York Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man"is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and authorhouse.com. Jordan can be reached at [e-mail]