Case closed

Smoltz, Gagne, Wagner may be best trio of closers ever

The ninth inning is never easy on hitters in the National League. This year, it's never been harder.

John Smoltz, Eric Gagne and Billy Wagner may be the most imposing trio of players in one league to ever climb a mound with the game on the line and three outs to get. Give or take an out.

If any of them get in the game, it's bad news for whoever's standing at the plate.

"I'd take any one of the three at any given time and I'd send them out there with the world on the line and take my chances," says St. Louis Cardinals slugger Jim Edmonds. "They're pretty special people."

Never before in the history of baseball -- or at least since the numbers crunchers first started tracking saves in 1969 -- have three players saved at least 50 games apiece in a single season. It doesn't take a lot of number crunching to see that Smoltz, Gagne and Wagner could well pull that off this year. Smoltz is on pace for the single-season record, Gagne isn't far behind and Wagner only has to pick up his pace a bit for his first 50-save season.

But save totals show only a glimpse of how effective these closers have been. Each of them is dominating in his own right, in his own way.

Before we get to that, though, consider this: The threesome has been in 162 games this year (before Tuesday's games). The three of them have had a chance to earn a save in 116 of those appearances.

They've blown six saves.

These guys are money.

"Me, I'm jealous of them, because they're so good and they know what they're doing," Houston's Wagner says in his typically self-deprecating way. "It's taken me eight years to get 200 saves and it's going to take Gagne and Smoltz three years. That says a lot for the teams they're on. But they gotta be good."

They are, all three of them, practically unhittable. Opponents, in fact, are batting less than .200 against them. All of them are averaging more than a strikeout an inning. (Gagne is averaging more than 1 ½ strikeouts per inning pitched.)

None of them has an ERA over 1.92 -- and Smoltz's is a staggering 0.78.

The best thing about these guys, though, is that they're all different. What Atlanta's Smoltz brings to the mound is a whole lot different than what Wagner has.

And Gagne ... well, Gagne can be just plain different sometimes.

"I'm totally different. I'm really emotional," says Gagne, who has not blown a save this season. "John Smoltz is not emotional at all. He's always, always under control. He's awesome. That comes from being a starter. Me, it never worked out as a starter, and it's worked out better as a closer. That fits my personality better."

Wagner is an emotional sort, too, and he differentiates himself from the threesome further by being the lone lefty. He's also the veteran closer. This is only the second year that Smoltz, a former starter and Cy Young winner, and Gagne have been their team's closers.

Wagner is more of the classic closer, too, a guy who rares back and shows hitters his fastball, first and foremost.

"That's all I do, though. I mean, I don't think guys worry about facing me as much as they worry about facing [Houston setup man] Octavio Dotel," Wagner says. "They pretty much know what I bring. You know, it's no mystery. Where with Smoltz and Gagne, you have to be ready for three pitches."

To be fair to Wagner, he has added a slider recently, which makes his fastball even more effective. But Smoltz and Gagne have a repertoire of pitches that seems almost unfair.

Smoltz starts off with high-90s fastball and adds a devastating split-finger and a slider. And Gagne, along with a good fastball, has a changeup and a curve that he'll throw at almost any time.

"The curveball is just like a Bugs Bunny curveball. It's ridiculous," says Colorado's Preston Wilson. "When he throws it, you see hitters lock up, they're so geared up."

Last season, Smoltz saved 55 games, just missing Bobby Thigpen's single-season record of 57. Gagne, in his first season as a closer, saved 52. But Pittsburgh's Mike Williams couldn't make it three players with 50 or more saves, falling just short, with 46. (Jose Mesa of Philadelphia had 45.)

In 1998, San Diego's Trevor Hoffman had 53 saves and the Chicago Cubs' Rod Beck had 51. Jeff Shaw had 48 that year, playing for both the Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds.

Those are the only two seasons that as many as two players have had 50 or more saves.

The save, as a statistic, was the brainchild of Hall of Fame sportswriter and baseball historian Jerome Holtzman, who came up with the idea in 1959. It's been refined at least a couple of times since its inception in 1969. It remains one of the game's funkiest stats.

There are a couple of ways a pitcher can earn a save (see box), and at one time all a pitcher needed to do to earn one was to protect a lead. The all-time saves leader is journeyman Lee Smith, who notched 478 saves in a career that spanned 18 years and eight teams. The only one of the Top 10 leaders in career saves to nail down as many as 50 saves in a season is Hoffman, who sits fifth on the all-time list with 352.

Through the years, the save has become one of the biggest examples of the game's increased specialization. And this season, Smoltz, Gagne and Wagner have taken it even further.

Neither Smoltz nor Gagne has pitched more than two innings in a row this season (and they've each done it only twice), while Wagner has gone as far as 2 1/3 innings once. None of them has faced more than eight batters in an outing (Smoltz once, Gagne and Wagner three times apiece).

Smoltz hasn't thrown more than 33 pitches in a game this season. Gagne has labored through 31 pitches twice, and Wagner had one 38-pitch outing.

Their role is clear: Smoltz, Gagne and Wagner are in to pitch an inning, rarely more, and to nail down a win.

Few do it better. And maybe no group ever has done it as well as these three have this year.

"I don't know if there's been three closers this good, and there's definitely other guys out there," says Edmonds. "Those guys that go out there in the ninth inning are pretty fun to watch -- when you're on the side of the guy doing the job."

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.