Request for Help: 2026 Initial Closers
Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
Every year I report on how many closers made it through the season and how Saves were distributed (2025 report). I need help verifying that the following list is correct before writing the final report next week. Crowd-sourcing this information is a great way to make sure we have the right baseline for the report. It would be a big help if you could review the table below and offer any notes you have in the comments. At least take a look at the notes column to check if I’m right since those are the teams with the most questions? Thanks.
| Team | Initial Closer | Going into season | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angels | Jordan Romano | One guy | |
| Astros | Bryan Abreu | Main closer hurt | Josh Hader on the IL |
| Athletics | Scott Barlow ??? | Committee | Could be Mark Leiter Jr. and Hogan Harris |
| Blue Jays | Jeff Hoffman | One guy | |
| Braves | Raisel Iglesias | One guy | |
| Brewers | Trevor Megill | One guy | |
| Cardinals | Riley O’Brien | One guy | |
| Cubs | Daniel Palencia | One guy | |
| Diamondbacks | Paul Sewald | One guy | |
| Dodgers | Edwin Díaz | One guy | |
| Giants | Ryan Walker | One guy | |
| Guardians | Cade Smith | One guy | |
| Mariners | Andrés Muñoz | One guy | |
| Marlins | Pete Fairbanks | One guy | |
| Mets | Devin Williams | One guy | |
| Nationals | Clayton Beeter | One guy | |
| Orioles | Ryan Helsley | One guy | |
| Padres | Mason Miller | One guy | |
| Phillies | Jhoan Duran | One guy | |
| Pirates | Gregory Soto | Committee | With Dennis Santana? |
| Rangers | Jakob Junis | One guy | |
| Rays | Bryan Baker | Committee | With Kevin Kelly. I’m not sure what the initial plan was. |
| Red Sox | Aroldis Chapman | One guy | |
| Reds | Emilio Pagán | One guy | |
| Rockies | Victor Vodnik | Committee | With Jimmy Herget |
| Royals | Carlos Estévez | One guy | |
| Tigers | Kenley Jansen | One guy | |
| Twins | Cole Sands | Committee | Nightmare with Taylor Rogers, Kody Funderburk, and Justin Topa in the mix |
| White Sox | Seranthony Domínguez | One guy | |
| Yankees | David Bednar | One guy |
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Cardinals began as a nightmare situation with Stanek, Svanson, JoJo Romero. Pirates were definitely led initially by Santana. Athletics were a mess with Kuhnel, Leiter Jr, and Perkins. Pomeranz was involved with the Angels but I do this it was Romano’s job to start.
If anyone in STL was the closer to start, it was Stanek. Who got the first Save. O’Brien got the next six Saves. Pit was a a mess. I guess it was Santana who got two of the four Saves.
Santana was closer #1 to start for the Bucs, Soto was supposed to be 8th inning guy.
TEX, STL, ARZ, LAA, MIN were all up in the air to start
Jax was expected to get a majority save share for the Rays heading into the season, but he never actually pitched in the ninth and lost his leverage role after two blown saves and two losses in his first four appearances.
Yep, it was definitely Jax. Baker was high-ish on the leverage ladder, but as Jax faltered, Baker was the only one pitching well at the time, and got a shot…then another… then another. I’m not sure Baker was even really 2nd on the ladder at the start of the season.
Here’s the season-opening closer depth chart from Pitcher List: https://pitcherlist.com/relief-pitcher-streamer-rankings-fantasy-baseball-3-27/
Wasn’t the Rays initial plan Jax and Cleavinger and maybe some other guys?
Internet Archive has the Roster Resource closer depth chart as it appeared on March 2nd https://web.archive.org/web/20260302232245/https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/closer-depth-chart
Rangers were looking at RGarcia, IIRC. Junis was an aftertought, but then got a couple of saves in April.
Orion Kerkering