tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Mariano Rivera: Simply The Best!!!!

Last night, Mariano Rivera got 2 steps closer to being the all-time save leader by notching his 600th save as the Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners 3-2. With out a doubt, we have been watching the greatest closer of all-time. I say that not because Rivera is a Yankee and I'm a Yankee fan, I say it because of Rivera's longevity of dominance.

The amazing thing is that despite Rivera's dominance, he has never won a Cy Young Award. Other relievers have won the Cy Young: Rollie Fingers, Willie Hernandez and Dennis Eckersley come to mind. Now I'm not suggesting that Rivera should win the award this year as Justin Verlander should win the award going away, but it is amazing that over a 17 year career Rivera has never won the award. The closest he came was in 2005 when he finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting behind Bartolo Colon, then of the Los Angeles Angels.

Of course, Rivera will tell you that what's most important to him is winning and that there is nothing better than winning the World Series. Rivera was the World Series MVP in 1999 and was the ALCS MVP in 2003. That's what makes Rivera even more special: his post season success. With 42 career post season saves and the Yankees being in the post season this year, Rivera will have an opportunity to pad that number. In fact, it will be a long time before anyone challenges Rivera for all-time saves leader in the post season as Brad Lidge is second in career post season saves with 18.

Some will argue that Rivera has benefitted from playing on some very good to great Yankee teams. However, those teams would not have achieved the success that they had without Rivera. Class, humility, professional, dominant are what describe Rivera's 17 year career. We have been really fortunate to watch this man perform. I think it's safe to say that we will never see this again.