Congratulations to all of those head-to-head fantasy baseball players who are still part of matchups that matter. As many leagues finish Week 2 of the playoffs, fewer teams are playing meaningful games. With the mix of September call-ups and eliminated teams playing meaningless games, September certainly lends itself to plenty of weird baseball, and that can have its effects on the fantasy world as well. A few nights ago, the Dodgers and Rockies combined to use 24 pitchers in one game. The box score read like an old world scroll, and the game took as long as some double headers.

Predicting individual player performance in mid-to-late September gets tricky since there is a pretty good chance that players even the biggest baseball fans have never heard of may start to appear in crucial game situations. Some teams are still fighting for a playoff berth, and others are fighting for home field advantage. But most teams at this point are waving the white flag and desperately gasping for breath on their way to the finish line. That being said, saves and solid relief innings are at even more of a premium for those fantasy owners remaining.

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Closer News Around the League

Kansas City Royals

Greg Holland has been collecting saves for the Kansas City Royals since 2011 and became an elite closer in 2013 when he picked up 47 saves and posted a 1.21 ERA. He’s still saving games this season (32 and counting), but he has not been nearly as effective as he was earlier in his career. He’s dealt with a few injuries this season that have kept him out of games, but it seems like whatever is going with him is still affecting him as his velocity is significantly down this season. Ned Yost and the Royals have continued to show faith in Holland, calling on him to preserve ninth inning leads and sticking with him through his struggles. He’s only blown four saves this season, but many of his innings end up with him walking a tightrope with very few clean innings in between.

It’s surely been a difficult transition for a guy who used to be a dominant, top-tier closer. Yost said that Holland was still his closer, but admitted that if he struggles before the playoffs, the team would have to re-evaluate the ninth inning job. Luckily for the Royals, they have an elite closer-in-waiting in the form of Wade Davis. With a 10-game division lead, Yost and the Royals can afford to let Holland try to work around his issues. If he succeeds, the Royals will likely keep Davis in the eighth and Holland in the ninth. Otherwise, Davis would take over the ninth and Holland would likely step down into the earlier innings.

This chart courtesy of Mike Petriello on Twitter, shows Holland’s velocity trend since May 1, really displaying what Holland’s issues have been. Besides his sudden lack of control, Holland is also throwing much softer than he ever has in his career. That’s a recipe for disaster, especially against the good teams the Royals will face in the playoffs.

New York Mets

The New York Mets planned to have Jenrry Mejia serve as their closer in 2015. A PED suspension to Mejia was all it took for Jeurys Familia to step in and suddenly become one of the best closers in the league. For the year, Familia has 41 saves to go with a 1.63 ERA and 9.67 K/9. The 41 saves are only two away from the Mets franchise record, which he’s sure to set barring injury. In a year where seemingly everything has gone right for the Mets, they were forced to use a guy who wasn’t even meant to be their closer. It’s funny how that guy will almost certainly set a new record for saves in Mets history. Familia is a very good fantasy option and should continue to pick up saves and strikeouts until season’s end.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Another closer is about to set a record, as Pirates closer Mark Melancon‘s 46 saves have him tied with Mike Williams’ 2002 for the most in Pirates history. Melancon is having another great year despite not possessing the typical closer “stuff” that many successful ninth-inning guys have. He’s posted a nice 1.97 ERA to go with 6.68 K/9 and 1.83 BB/9. He’s topped out at 94.1 mph this season but is averaging just 91.0 mph on his fastball. He’s proving that while velocity helps, it isn’t everything that makes a ninth-inning option an effective closer.

Injury Updates

Los Angeles Angels closer Huston Street was unavailable for a few days this week due to an illness. He reportedly lost 13 pounds in only a few days and was seen vomiting in the bullpen. He’s feeling better now and should continue pitching the ninth for the Angels despite some recent struggles.

“Injury Updates” mainstay Glen Perkins seems to be working his way back, throwing a 36-pitch bullpen session with fastballs and sliders on Wednesday. Reportedly, everything went well and Perkins should be able to return to the Twins’ bullpen on Friday. He won’t immediately have his ninth-inning job back though, so owners of fill-in closer Kevin Jepsen can hang onto him for a few more days.

Interesting Tidbits

New York Yankees setup man (and fill-in closer earlier this year) Dellin Betances has appeared in 66 games this season and will surely reach and surpass the 70 games he appeared in last season. In his entire 19-year career, Mariano Rivera appeared in 70+ games only three times. Betances is in his second full season, and will already have two 70-game seasons of his own. A second interesting Betances tidbit is that he has faced 49 more hitters in high leverage situations this season than Matt Harvey has. Betances has pitched 75.1 innings, Harvey has pitched 171.2. This is not only a testament to how Harvey can avoid turning situations into high leverage ones, but also shows just how important Betances has been to the Yankees this season.

After over 1,000 innings pitched in the majors and 177 games, Nationals pitcher Doug Fister earned the first save of his career on Monday night. It was not at all a shake up in the Nats’ bullpen, rather just something that can be attributed to weird baseball. With a one-run lead in the 11th inning, the Nationals double switched Fister into the game. He allowed just a walk in a hitless inning while notching two strikeouts. Despite not pitching in 13 days, Fister did what was asked of him and sent the Nationals home with a win.

Top Performers for the Week

A.J. Ramos – MIA – 3 IP, 3 SV, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP

Andrew Miller – NYY – 4 IP, 2 SV, 10 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP

Mark Melancon – PIT – 4 IP, 2 SV, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP

There weren’t many great performances from closers this week, as only two pitchers saved three games. One of them was Angels closer Huston Street, who paired his three saves with a 12.27 ERA. The other was A.J. Ramos of the Marlins. Ramos appeared in three games and allowed just one hit and one walk while saving all three. One of his saves was a four-out save which had him come in to a bases loaded situation. He’s still only owned in 66% of fantasy leagues, and with the Marlins suddenly playing good baseball, he could be a good source for fantasy playoff saves.

Andrew Miller may have only saved two games for the Yankees this week, but he had one of the most exceptional weeks for a reliever all season. In four innings spanning three games, Miller faced 12 batters and retired 10 of them via strikeout. To put that into perspective: 12 batters stepped into the box to face Andrew Miller this week and only 2 of them were able to even make contact despite not getting a hit. That’s pure dominance.

Pirates closer Mark Melancon had a perfect week as well, pitching four innings and picking up two saves with five strikeouts. He allowed no base runners in his four games and continued what will soon be a record breaking season.

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David A. Marcillo is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from David, check out his archive and follow him @DavidMarcillo77.

