{"id":3773,"date":"2009-03-12T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T14:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/mlbs-all-time-greatest-closers-top-sportsbook-opines\/"},"modified":"2009-03-12T09:27:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-12T14:27:00","slug":"mlbs-all-time-greatest-closers-top-sportsbook-opines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/mlbs-all-time-greatest-closers-top-sportsbook-opines\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB’s All-Time Greatest Closers: Top Sportsbook Opines"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If a team is going to have good MLB odds<\/a> it needs a top-notch closer to give the ball to in the ninth inning. Here is a look at the top closers in the history of the majors, and you can bet that all these players boosted their team’s offshore sportsbook<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/u> odds. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Dennis Eckersley<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/b><\/o:p><\/p>\n

“Eck” is one of two players, along with John Smoltz, to post a 20-win and a 50-save season, and he is one of two closers to win the Cy<\/span> Young award. Eckersley<\/span> is fifth all-time with 390 saves and, with his long hair and submarine-style delivery,<\/span> he was one of the most recognizable players of the early 90s. However, he may be best remembered for giving up Kirk Gibson’s homer on a bum knee in the ’88 World Series when his Oakland Athletics lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Mariano Rivera<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/o:p><\/p>\n

“Mo” is second all-time with 482 saves, but his legacy was (and still will be, possibly) made in the postseason. Rivera has an outlandish 0.77 ERA in 76 playoff games and, between 1998 and 2001, he racked up 23 saves. His cutter is borderline legendary. It’s no surprise that the Yankees won three World Series in that time, and Rivera was MVP of the 1999 victory. At 39 years old, he’s still going, and he’ll be crucial to the Yankees’ MLB betting<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/u> chances.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Rich Gossage<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/b><\/o:p><\/p>\n

“Goose” was probably the first shut-down closer, and even though he is “only” 18th<\/sup> with 310 career saves, he was the precursor to Eckersley<\/span> with wild hair and an outgoing personality. Gossage<\/span> led the Yankees to the 1978 World Series, and he was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Trevor Hoffman<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/o:p><\/p>\n

The all-time saves leader has to find a spot on this list, and even though Hoffman is slowing down at age 41, he’ll still be a major player in <\/span><\/font>Milwaukee<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>’s MLB betting<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/u> odds. Hoffman’s changeup has made many a batter look foolish in the past, and the Brewers will hope Hoffman brought it with him from San Diego<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Lee Smith<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/o:p><\/p>\n

Imagine seeing the 6’6” (and scowling) Smith strolling out for the ninth inning. His intimidation factor was a huge reason why he’s third all-time in saves with 478. Smith played with eight teams, but his best years came in <\/span><\/font>Chicago<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> and St. Louis<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. With the Cardinals, he had at least 43 saves in three of his four years. <\/p>\n

For the top MLB picks check out OffshoreInsiders.com<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

OffshoreInsiders.com<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a team is going to have good MLB odds it needs a top-notch closer to give the ball to in the ninth inning. Here is a look at the top closers in the history of the majors, and you can bet that all these players boosted their team’s offshore sportsbook odds. Dennis Eckersley “Eck” … Continue reading MLB’s All-Time Greatest Closers: Top Sportsbook Opines<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}