For God knows what reason, Jonathan Papelbon thinks he should close out tomorrow night’s All-Star Game. Ahem.
Welcome to Yankee Stadium ladies, gentlemen, and Papelbon. It’s the home of the Yankees. It houses the best closer in baseball history, and certainly the closer having the best season in either league. That guy…you know, what’s-his-name. Silly me. Mariano Rivera. If anyone deserves to close out Yankee Stadium, to close out the final All-Star Game that will be hosted there, and to close out a game where he will almost certainly not give up a run, Mo has to be on the mound.
It’s not just that the game is being hosted at his home park. Mo is having the better season. He has a chance to pick up a Cy Young award. During save situations this year, not only has he converted every last one of those, but he has only given up one run in save situations. He has given up five runs all year (all are ER) in 42.1 innings of work, good for a 1.06 ERA.
Then there’s Papelbon, who holds a 2.43 ERA in 40.2 innings of work. He has given up 16 runs (11 earned) and blown 4 saves.
Mo has done everything better than Papelbon this year: not blown a save, fewer homers, walks, hits, and runs allowed, worked more innings, has a lower ERA, and he has done this for his entire career. Papelbon has just come onto the scene in the last few years and feels that he should close out the All-Star Game because he earned it by closing out the World Series last year.
Welcome to reality. Mo has closed out more World Series games, has the lowest postseason ERA, he’s having the better season, and it’s his house. If there’s any doubt about who should close for the AL All-Star Team this year, this must be said: you gotta go to Mo.
