Save situation

A save situation occurs when a relief pitcher enters the game with the possibility of earning a save if he pitches until the end of the game without surrendering the lead. This happens any time a relief pitcher comes in with his team in the lead and three or more innings are left to play, but in practice the term tends to be used only in situations when the closer would normally be brought into the game (i.e. it is extremely rare in today's game for a closer to earn a save by pitching effectively for three or more innings, notwithstanding the size of his team's lead, even though it is one of the situations provided for by the save rule). So in practice, a save situation occurs when a team starts the 9th inning or comes into the game at an earlier point with a lead of three runs or less, or a when pitcher capable of finishing the game enters the game with a larger lead, but with the tying run at bat or in the on-deck circle.

A pitcher who comes in when a save situation is in effect is credited with a save opportunity. He can then end up with a save or a blown save (and possibly also a loss), depending on whether he is successful or not, or with a hold if he in turn passes the baton to another pitcher without having relinquished the lead. He can only get a win if he first relinquishes the lead (getting charged with a blown save in the process), or in the rare situation when the official scorer is the one who determines which pitcher gets credit for the win because the starting pitcher is not eligible.

With the evolution of relief pitcher usage from the 1980s forward, save situations have usually been reserved for the pre-annointed closer. In many cases, a closer would not come into a game unless it was a save situation: even in a tied or otherwise close game in the late innings, he would not be used. This was very different from the earlier usage, in which the "relief ace" was used in the late innings of any close game, and not just in the 9th inning either. This sometimes led to absurd results, the most famous being the 2016 American League Wild Card Game, when Baltimore Orioles manager never used his closer, Zack Britton, who had been the best relief pitcher in baseball that season, in a close do-or-die game, as he was waiting for a save situation that never materialized. He ended up losing the game with maybe his seventh-best pitching option on the mound... As a reaction to this, relief pitcher usage became slightly less mechanical starting in the last years of the 2010s.

Further Reading

• John Daniels, Sara Andrasik and David Hooley: "The Specialized Bullpen: History, Analysis, and Strategic Models for Success", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 47, Nr. 2 (Fall 2018), pp. 12-18.
• Alden Gonzalez: "Rethinking bullpen roles: Will teams buy in? Analytics have teams considering changes to traditional usage", mlb.com, March 16, 2016. [1]
• Gabe Lacques: "MLB’s bullpen revolution a hard sell for 162 games", USA Today Sports, February 21, 2017. [2]
• Pete Palmer: "Relief Pitching Strategy: Past, Present, and Future?", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 47, Nr. 1 (spring 2018), pp. 45-52.