After having ranked the top 10 offenses and top 10 rotations in our leadup to Opening Day, it’s now time for the top 10 bullpens.
Attempting to rank any aspect of a ballclub before the season even starts is difficult enough, but the bullpen is the hardest group of all. Relievers by nature are the most volatile players and are expected to perform to near perfection in small samples on a regular basis. One meltdown ruins a stat line for weeks, months and, in some cases, a whole season. Pitchers generally move in and out at a much higher rate than in position-player starting lineups too.
In eyeballing each of the 30 prospective bullpens for the 2025 season, I found that most of them looked pretty thin on paper, at least at first glance. Sometimes in looking at a top-10 list, I find it difficult to narrow the field. This time around, I had to expand it. I only had four teams listed in my initial sweep.
This falls right in line with fan sentiment when it comes to bullpens too. Most fan bases feel like the bullpen of their favorite team isn’t reliable because any time a close lead isn’t held it’s the most frustrating thing in the world. Those stick with you and it makes you feel like next time the manager goes to the bullpen he’s simply opening the spigot and allowing a deluge of runs. With some teams it’s true, obviously, but other times it’s just a case where you only remember the bad ones and the good outings were more filed under, “hey, they did their job like they are supposed to.” Isn’t that how life always works?
All this is to say that this ranking is likely going to end up looking terrible by season’s end. There’s just so much unpredictablity. We’re gonna trudge on, though, because that’s what we do.
Honorable mention: Astros, Giants, Padres, Cardinals, Red Sox
A perfect illustration of how hard it is to rank bullpens is probably just to zero in on Edwin Díaz. He could well be the best reliever in baseball this season (he’s looked the part across three seasons in the past) or he could totally melt down (hello, 2019) or anywhere in between (2021 and 2024!).
The addition of lefty A.J. Minter helps this group. He’s had plenty of ups and down in his own right — he is a reliever, after all — but still has a 2.85 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over the last five seasons. A full-time role will suit José Buttó, it was a good decision to bring Ryne Stanek back and Redd Garrett will also prove a decent option.
I’m interested to see what happens with Tylor Megill. Now armed with a sinker and still having the ability to light up the radar gun, he’d very likely thrive in a full-time bullpen job. The Mets might need him in the rotation early, due to injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, but Megill in the bullpen down the stretch is an X-factor here.
The Braves last season ranked third in bullpen ERA and WAR, though they’ve experienced some turnover, namely the losses of A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez to free agency in addition to the loss of Joe Jiménez to knee surgery. Still, top-shelf closer Raisel Iglesias is back, as are setup men Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee.
Due to the aforementioned losses, depth could be an issue at least until/if Jiménez returns. Daysbel Hernández did good work in limited time last year and could handle the increased workload while moving Grant Holmes to the bullpen upon Spencer Strider’s return to the rotation will also provide a boost. There’s a lot of good stuff here and, if anything, the ranking might prove to be too low.
The bullpen was an issue last season, but there are reinforcements. First off, Craig Kimbrel (-1.1 WAR, 5.33 ERA) is gone. More importantly, the big man is back. That would be 6-foot-8 closer Félix Bautista returning from Tommy John surgery. He was an absolute beast in 2022 and 2023, so expect him to return to form and serve as the anchor. In the setup role is new acquisition Andrew Kittredge, who posted a 2.47 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over the course of the last five seasons. Keegan Akin and Yennier Cano have proven capable relievers in recent years and are next in line. Cionel Pérez, Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto were varying levels of disappointing last season, but each have shown enough stuff in the past three years to believe at least one of them will be a worthwhile reliever this year.
Further, whenever he’s not needed in the rotation, Albert Suárez adds bonus depth.
They’ve really found something in Luke Weaver, who pitched to a 2.89 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with 103 strikeouts in 84 innings last year. He closed some, but he’s back in a setup role now that elite closer Devin Williams has been acquired from the Brewers. Like several other teams on this list, the Yankees have the capability to have the best back-end duo in baseball. Righty Ian Hamilton and lefty Tim Hill are back and could take on bigger roles. Can the team harness the immense talent of Fernando Cruz? The 34-year-old right-hander didn’t make the majors until 2022 and has a career 4.52 ERA, but he struck out 109 batters in 66 ⅔ innings last season. Consider him the X-factor.
The injuries to Jake Cousins, Scott Effross and Jonathan Loáisiga hurt the depth.
Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez walked in free agency, but the Phillies are still very likely to look four strong at the end of games in 2025 and there’s some depth here. Matt Strahm returns after a career year and the gains made by young Orion Kerkering definitely look sustainable. Those are the two reliable options.
The upside plays are Jordan Romano and José Alvarado.
Romano is capable of being an elite closer and was just that from 2021-23. He turns 32 in April, so there’s no reason to think the injury-plagued disaster that was 2024 will carry over, as long as he looks healthy in the spring. That has been the case so far. He looks great.
Alvarado in 2023 had a 1.74 ERA, 2.41 FIP, 1.16 WHIP and 64 strikeouts in 41 ⅓ innings. Last season, he regressed to a 4.09 ERA, 3.80 FIP and 1.25 WHIP. His strikeout rate plummeted while he was walking more and allowing more hits. He’s better than that. He doesn’t turn 30 until May. Bet on him bouncing back.
José Ruiz, Tanner Banks and Joe Ross are quality depth.
5. Milwaukee Brewers
If I saw the names in this bullpen attached to, say, the Angels, I wouldn’t even think about putting them in the top 10, let alone the fifth. Personnel be damned, though, these Brewers have some sort of bullpen cheat code. They were second in relief pitcher ERA last season at 3.11 and they were also second in 2023. They have been getting the most out of their pitches, starters and relievers alike, for around a decade.
Trevor Megill filled in admirably for injured closer Devin Williams for a portion of 2024 and the job is all his now with Williams in the Bronx. Jared Koenig, Joel Payamps and Bryan Hudson were all very good last season and are back as well.
Former manager Craig Counsell and former executive David Stearns were both gone before the 2024 season and the Brewers didn’t miss a beat. I’m gonna need to see it fail on the field before I shove this team aside for the time being.
The projection systems love the Twins, understandably so.
Jhoan Durán leads the bunch and if you just ignored all the numbers and watched every big-time MLB pitcher face a few batters, you might come away thinking he’s the best pitcher in baseball. His stuff is that jaw-dropping.
He had a 3.64 ERA and 1.16 WHIP last season, though, so what gives? My hunch is he’s much better than those figures in 2025.
The supporting cast is especially impressive in setup men Griffin Jax (2.03 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 95 K, 71 IP) and Cole Sands (3.28 ERA, 2.63 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 85 K, 71 ⅓ IP). With Duran, you could easily foresee this group as being the best 7-8-9 combination in the majors this season.
The depth isn’t as impressive, but there are some interesting arms in there, notably Jorge Alcalá and newly-reacquired lefty Danny Coulombe.
It’s possible that some would entertain a philosophical discussion on if a bullpen is actually great or if a brilliant manager pulls all the correct strings to make the relievers look better than they actually are. For our purposes, we don’t really care which way. It’s the performance as a whole that matters and the Tigers bullpen — with great help from manager A.J. Hinch — really got to a great place last season. They ranked fifth in ERA last year while pacing the majors with 694 innings. The Giants were second at 655. To take on that level of workload and perform as well as they did is remarkable.
Is it repeatable? It just might be. They have the horses. If you watched them frequently down the stretch and in the playoffs, you got used to seeing a lot of Jason Foley (3.15 ERA, 1.18 WHIP), Tyler Holton (2.19 ERA, 0.78 WHIP), Will Vest (2.82 ERA, 1.12 WHIP) and Beau Brieske (3.59 ERA, 69 K in 67 ⅔ IP) and that even included 21 starts (as an “opener”) between Brieske and Holton.
All four are back.
Tommy Kahnle joins the fray and while he left a bad taste at the end of the World Series, he pitched to a 2.44 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 108 strikeouts in 96 innings in his last three regular seasons.
Another bonus: The rotation looks to be much deeper this season, meaning there’s less stress on the bullpen as a whole and that’s always a plus.
Yes, for the non-Dodgers fans out there, I agree that this is annoying. At least they aren’t No. 1 again, right?
The Dodgers ranked fourth last season in bullpen ERA while racking up the fifth-most innings pitched. Obviously, they don’t have exactly the same bullpen but the turnover here was actually a net positive.
- Michael Kopech only joined last year after the trade deadline. He had a 1.13 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 29 strikeouts in 24 regular-season innings with the Dodgers before an effective postseason.
- Tanner Scott is one of the best lefty relievers in baseball. He signed with the Dodgers this winter.
- Kirby Yates had a 1.17 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 85 strikeouts in 61 ⅔ innings last season, mostly as Rangers closer. He’s also new.
- Blake Treinen didn’t join the Dodgers until May due to injury, then had another IL stint in August. When he pitched in either the regular season or playoffs, he was mostly great.
Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda are also back and both were very productive in 2024. When the absurdly deep rotation is fully healthy, there will be some spillover here (perhaps with Dustin May in relief?) and that only makes the group as a whole that much stronger.
Yes, even the Dodgers’ bullpen is loaded.
The Guardians certainly had other good players, but one of the main reasons they got to the ALCS last season was the bullpen. The group as a whole posted a 2.57 ERA (the Brewers were second at 3.11) despite carrying the eighth-highest workload in terms of innings pitched.
This was a group that was both deep and featured stellar talent at the back end. Closer Emmanuel Clase was arguably the best reliever in baseball last season with a 0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and 47 saves in 50 chances. The three main setup men were also top-shelf in Cade Smith (1.91 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 103 K, 75 ⅓ IP), Hunter Gaddis (1.57 ERA, 0.76 WHIP in 74 ⅔ IP) and Tim Herrin (1.92 ERA, 0.98 WHIP).
All four are back.
Now, where to turn if you’re a reliever who has been great at the past and is coming off a bad season? Why, look no further than Cleveland. It’s kismet! If there’s a ballclub in baseball with the bullpen infrastructure to get Paul Sewald back to his best version, it’s the Guardians.
This means it’s possible they have five relief aces this season. The Guardians enter 2025 with the best bullpen in baseball.
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