We’re almost there, folks. The playoff picture is starting to clear up and fantasy and “real life” teams alike are starting to make postseason plans. Do we as fantasy owners move onto football? Do we already start looking ahead to next season? Of course, those in dynasty leagues have plenty to keep them busy already. The 2016 season may be on its last legs, but it isn’t dead yet, so here’s all of the closer news for the week.

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Closer News From Around The League

San Francisco Giants

The Giants relied on the unreliable Santiago Casilla as their closer for the majority of the season. Manager Bruce Bochy finally had enough though and removed him from the role last week. He has not named a replacement just yet, instead going with the dreaded committee approach, seemingly led by Hunter Strickland. That could change soon, though, as Strickland already blew a save and Derek Law is back from the disabled list. Law has thrown 51 1/3 innings this year, his rookie season, and posted a sparkling 1.93 ERA. His peripherals mostly back up the fact that he has been excellent, so he should be a great closer if given the role. Keep an eye on his usage into the weekend, but if there is one add in the Giants bullpen, it is certainly Law.

Miami Marlins

Miami Marlins closer A.J. Ramos was having an excellent season, then he broke his finger. He went on the disabled list and came back to see Fernando Rodney attempting to close games for Miami. Rodney pitched poorly a lot more often than he pitched well, so Ramos has worked his way back into the ninth inning, despite still feeling discomfort in his injured finger. Because he is still hurt, Ramos may yield some save opportunities down the stretch to Rodney or perhaps even David Phelps and Kyle Barraclough, but Ramos should still be the recipient of the lion’s share of saves in the Marlins bullpen. He’s an underrated asset heading into the fantasy playoffs.

St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal struggled, got hurt, and lost his job this year. New Cardinal Seung-Hwan Oh took over the ninth inning and has been excellent, meaning “Rosey” may have a hard time getting his job back, despite the fact that reports have him hitting triple digits in his bullpen sessions. Still, Rosenthal has tons of closing experience at the Major League level compared to Oh, so manager Mike Matheny may greatly shorten Oh’s leash. It’s a situation to keep an eye on for sure, but, for now, Oh is still the bullpen arm to own in St. Louis.

Top Performers From September 8 – 15, 2016

Edwin Diaz (SEA): 4 IP, 6 K, 4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP

Diaz had a perfect week, retiring all 12 batters he faced, half of them via strikeout. It was basically the best week possible for a closer, and Diaz has turned into an elite option this season. He’s still only owned in 73% of leagues, so have a look just in case,

A.J. Ramos (MIA): 3 IP, 4 K, 4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.30 WHIP

Ramos seems to finally be back in the ninth inning role where he belongs. This week, he appeared in four games, saving all four and allowing just one hit. One of his saves only required him to get one out, allowing him to have an innings pitched number lower than his save number.

Zach Britton (BAL): 4 IP, 4 K, 3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 1.15 WHIP

By his standards, Britton had a down week. But he still saved three games, struck out a batter per inning, and did not allow a run. There’s an idea of how great Britton has been this season: that was a down week for him and it was still enough to land him in the third spot of top performers.

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

