A quick, nasty investigation of a fairly minor issue.
We've seen a few comments noting Roberto Osuna's tendency to pitch worse when there isn't a save on the line. Why would this happen? Is the adrenalin not flowing? Is he taking the opportunity to try out a few things? And, perhaps more to the point, does this really happen?
In a word, yes. Here are your AL closers, ranked in order of how much their ERA increases when he's not pitching in a save situation.
Pitcher Team ERA GainOK, why is Ryan Madson working in save situations at all? I don't like my chances of squeezing the whole data table into place, but here goes....
Kimbrel BOS 3.84
Robertson CWS 3.16
Osuna TOR 3.00
Herrera KCR 2.51
Betances NYY 2.32
Rodriguez DET 2.10
Colome TBR 1.94
Diaz SEA 1.05
Britton BAL 0.78
Dyson TEX 0.61
Miller NY-CL 0.55
Davis KCR 0.32
Gregerson HOU 0.12
Chapman NY-CH -0.42
Harris HOU -0.73
Allen CLE -0.93
Kintzler MIN -1.53
Cishek SEA -2.04
Madson OAK -4.09
SAVE SITUATIONS NON-SAVE SITUATIONSAs I said, this is probably trivial.
Team ERA G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO BF WHIP SO9 SO/W ERA G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO BF WHIP SO9 SO/W
Kimbrel BOS 1.35 27 25 24 26.2 11 5 4 1 9 40 101 0.75 13.5 4.4 5.19 19 12 0 17.1 15 11 10 2 13 29 81 1.62 15.1 2.2
Robertson CWS 2.90 40 35 33 40.1 33 13 13 5 16 45 165 1.22 10.0 2.8 6.06 16 7 0 16.1 16 11 11 1 13 18 78 1.78 9.9 1.4
Osuna TOR 1.10 33 31 30 32.2 17 4 4 4 4 38 118 0.64 10.5 9.5 4.10 26 18 0 26.1 24 13 12 3 7 35 112 1.18 12.0 5.0
Herrera KCR 0.73 37 11 11 37.0 20 3 3 1 5 41 133 0.68 10.0 8.2 3.24 25 10 0 25.0 25 10 9 3 3 35 104 1.12 12.6 11.7
Betances NYY 1.25 40 9 9 43.1 21 6 6 1 14 75 161 0.81 15.6 5.4 3.57 24 5 0 22.2 21 12 9 3 6 39 94 1.19 15.5 6.5
Rodriguez DET 2.40 43 41 39 41.1 31 12 11 2 17 35 165 1.16 7.6 2.1 4.50 11 8 0 10.0 10 7 5 3 1 11 42 1.10 9.9 11.0
Colome TBR 1.44 33 32 30 31.1 22 5 5 4 10 46 125 1.02 13.2 4.6 3.38 15 9 0 16.0 13 6 6 2 5 14 64 1.13 7.9 2.8
Diaz SEA 2.16 26 13 12 25.0 21 6 6 1 10 41 106 1.24 14.8 4.1 3.21 12 1 0 14.0 13 5 5 3 5 29 62 1.29 18.6 5.8
Britton BAL 0.45 40 40 40 40.1 22 2 2 1 12 41 152 0.84 9.1 3.4 1.23 18 13 0 14.2 6 5 2 0 4 21 55 0.68 12.9 5.3
Dyson TEX 2.51 45 32 31 43.0 35 12 12 3 14 33 174 1.14 6.9 2.4 3.12 18 12 0 17.1 19 6 6 1 5 13 71 1.39 6.8 2.6
Miller NY-CL 1.41 34 12 12 38.1 23 7 6 4 5 63 144 0.73 14.8 12.6 1.96 24 9 0 23.0 14 5 5 3 3 38 86 0.74 14.9 12.7
Davis KCR 1.93 25 23 22 23.1 17 5 5 0 11 27 95 1.20 10.4 2.5 2.25 12 11 0 12.0 7 3 3 0 4 8 47 0.92 6.0 2.0
Gregerson HOU 2.93 29 14 14 27.2 15 10 9 2 9 30 107 0.87 9.8 3.3 3.05 20 9 0 20.2 14 7 7 1 5 27 82 0.92 11.8 5.4
Chapman NY-CH 1.95 36 34 32 32.1 21 9 7 2 11 46 127 0.99 12.8 4.2 1.53 15 10 0 17.2 10 3 3 0 3 30 66 0.74 15.3 10.0
Harris HOU 2.62 36 13 12 34.1 33 11 10 3 6 42 140 1.14 11.0 7.0 1.89 19 6 0 19.0 12 4 4 0 4 17 74 0.84 8.1 4.3
Allen CLE 3.33 27 25 24 27.0 19 10 10 2 10 37 108 1.07 12.3 3.7 2.40 29 20 0 30.0 18 12 8 5 15 36 119 1.10 10.8 2.4
Kintzler MIN 3.12 17 13 13 17.1 18 9 6 1 4 12 75 1.27 6.2 3.0 1.59 28 17 0 28.1 26 5 5 3 1 19 107 0.95 6.0 19.0
Cishek SEA 4.08 35 29 25 35.1 31 16 16 5 8 47 148 1.10 12.0 5.9 2.04 15 10 0 17.2 7 4 4 3 9 21 70 0.91 10.7 2.3
Madson OAK 4.54 36 32 27 35.2 36 19 18 7 8 33 150 1.23 8.3 4.1 0.45 19 13 0 20.0 14 1 1 0 7 12 75 1.05 5.4 1.7
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