It may be a surprise to most baseball fans that there are just six teams in the major leagues have had the same closer since 2008. Just the Yankees, Red Sox, Royals, White Sox, Giants and Dodgers have managed to hold on to their closers for at least their third year.

What isn’t a surprise is that all six closers made their major league debuts with the teams that they are currently on. I believe this is for two reasons. First, even though a pitcher enters a save situation with at least a one-run lead, and for the most part the bases empty, it is the hardest inning in baseball to pitch.

If a middle reliever is brought in to pitch during a 5-5 tie game in the fifth inning, he knows that if he gives up the lead, his team has four innings to regain that lead. But there are only a handful of people that have the “ice water” gene that is necessary to close out games. Few can handle the pressure that it takes to be the hero when the game is on the line. Frankly, it’s just too hard to find a guy that can consistently compete at this level year after year.

Secondly, because the closer spot is one of the toughest to fill on a roster, when a team finds a good one, they are usually smart enough to lock them up.
40-year-old Mariano Rivera has been closing out Yankees’ games for 13 years, and though he only has one pitch, he’s been baffling hitters for over a decade. His contract runs out at the end of this year, and you better believe the Yankees will be ready with an extension by the time free agency starts.

The Royals, White Sox, and Giants have all locked up their stud closers, Joakim Soria, Bobby Jenks, and Brian Wilson, to long-term deals. The Dodgers would be smart to do the same with Jonathan Broxton.

Of the six, five were able to compile elite numbers in the three main categories for closers: Save percentage, Strikeouts per nine innings, and ERA.

With the exception of Jenks, the rest all had save percentages of at least 84 percent, a K/9 of 9.8 and an ERA less than three.

Expand those results to the rest of the league and you can add just five more: Joe Nathan, Heath Bell, David Aardsma, Rafael Soriano and Andrew Bailey, though only Nathan had experience closing full-time before 2009.

So while you may be upset that your flashy new closer blew a save, you have to understand that those are going to happen no matter what. Already this year, we’ve seen multiple injuries, and blown saves which have cost teams win and players their roles.

In Colorado, Huston Street has been on the disabled list since the beginning of the season, thus forcing the team to use Franklin Morales in the ninth. The 24-year-old lefty has blown two of four saves this season. In Philadelphia, the Phillies have had better luck with Ryan Madson. With Brad Lidge on the disabled list, Madson has stepped up to the plate converting on all three of his save situations.

Elsewhere around the league, closers are dropping like flies. It didn’t take long for the Jays to remove Jason Frasor from his ninth-inning duties but they proved the move was a good move since Kevin Gregg has converted all three of his opportunities and has given up only one run all year.

Mike Gonzalez and the Orioles haven’t had similar luck with their search for a closer. Gonzalez blew two of his three save opportunities and sported an 18.00 ERA when the Orioles placed him on the disabled list. Since then Jim Johnson has filled in and is also just one for three on save opportunities. Their ninth-inning woes have led them to a 2-11 record over the first two weeks.

It’s unfortunate, and above all else, it’s heartbreaking to see a ninth-inning lead lost. But in baseball when you consider that just 33 percent of closers are performing at elite levels, is it fair to expect it anyway?