We all know that Mariano was great in the postseason. But how great was he, exactly?
The numbers tell the tale:
| G | W-L | IP | H | ER | BB | K | ERA | Saves |
| 96 | 8-1 | 141 | 86 | 11 | 21 | 110 | 0.70 | 42 |
I think we’ve all heard about his postseason greatness so much that we’ve become desensitized to how amazing that stat line actually is… an ERA of 0.70 over a span of 141 innings in 96 games, in the highest leverage situations imaginable? Oh, and I forgot to mention – two home runs allowed in those 141 innings. The same number of postseason home runs allowed by Emmanuel Clase, the greatest closer in baseball right now, in one-third of an inning last night. Rivera, in those 96 postseason appearances, gave up more than one earned run exactly once. Clase has done it twice in the past two weeks.
There are so many ways to look at how great this is. One that I decided to investigate is: has any reliever in MLB history ever had a span of 96 games – not postseason games, but any games – with a better ERA than that? And the answer is yes – but only one. Can you guess who it is? I wouldn’t have.
I know the suspense is killing you, so I’ll tell you. Wade Davis of the 2014-2015 Royals had a span of 96 regular season games from late April 2014 through early July 2015 in which his stats were:
| G | W-L | IP | H | ER | BB | K | ERA | Saves |
| 96 | 12-2 | 96.2 | 48 | 5 | 28 | 120 | 0.47 | 12 |
The crazy thing is that for most of that period, Davis wasn’t the Royals’ closer. Greg Holland was. The 2014 Royals may have had the greatest bullpen in MLB history with Holland, Davis, and Kelvin Herrera. And Davis’ postseason performance in 2014 and 2015 is right up there with Rivera’s. He gave up one run in 25 innings. Considered as a span, Davis 2014-2015 is arguably the greatest two-season relief pitching span in MLB history. Of course there is no comparison in terms of leverage – Davis’ span was mostly compiled in the regular season, and he wasn’t even the closer. But he was darn good.
So there you have it. Mariano’s postseason career, if considered as a span of games, represents the second-greatest 96-game span that any reliever has ever had.