10 Reasons Why Baseball Is Back

With his performance over the last 22 months, elite relief pitching has evolved into its highest form. What was once the fireman (e.g. Rollie Fingers, whose job was to douse rallies at any time) then became the closer (e.g. Bruce Sutter, who was used to protect leads) then became the one-inning closer (e.g. Dennis Eckersley, who typically started the ninth) has become the automatic closer, the rarest genus yet. There's Gagne, and there's no one else even close.

At week's end the Dodgers' righthander had converted a major league-record 81 consecutive save situations since Aug. 26,2002, including 18 this year. Gagne has obliterated the previous record of 54 consecutive saves by Tom Gordon, then with the Red Sox, in 1998 and '99. Says Eckersley, "It is ridiculous that anyone can be that good for so long. What I don't get is, why didn't he get people out as a starter?"

Gagne was such a mediocre starting pitcher for the Dodgers that after the 2001 season the Blue Jays chose to take minor league righty Luke Prokopec in a trade with Los Angeles rather than Gagne. When the Dodgers bought out closer Jeff Shaw's contract that winter after a 43-save season, LA tried Gagne in that role. As a former standout hockey player in his native Canada, Gagne relished the job.

"I like to go 100 percent all the time," he says. "[As a starter] I felt I had to plan too far ahead. I like to live each second all out. That's the way hockey is: You go all out for 30 seconds to a minute at a time, come back to the bench and then you go all out again."

Gagne has fiendishly wicked stuff, including a 99-mph fastball, a nasty curveball and a freakish changeup that seems to fall off the side of a cliff. As a prolific strikeout pitcher—he whiffed a record 14.98 batters per nine innings last season—Gagne heightens the excitement of any game he enters. Because of the enormity of his streak, however, each one of his save appearances boils with the tension of history about to be written. The sight of the 6'2", 234-pound begoggled Gagne entering from the bullpen is akin to that of an undefeated heavyweight making his way into the ring. Is this the night he goes down? Lengthy streaks raise interest in the game on a daily basis. Gagne's streak commands attention in the late innings of every close Dodgers game.

Gagne has blown four saves in his career (129 chances). While going 81 for 81 he allowed eight earned runs in 84% innings (0.85 ERA) and struck out 133. "I want to be the best closer ever," he says. "Whether I get there or not, that's another thing. But I want to try."

For nearly two years he's been the perfect man for the job.

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