John Romano: Who needs a star closer when the Rays have a bevy of bullpen arms?

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Feb 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The closer is a solitary figure, walking in from the bullpen to a banging beat and thunderous applause.

Hitters fear him, and managers depend on him. The very best among them have iconic and, often, edgy music to announce their arrival.

For Mariano Rivera, it was “Enter Sandman.” Trevor Hoffman had “Hells Bells.” Eric Gagne used “Welcome to the Jungle” and Mitch Williams chose “Wild Thing.”

So, tell me, what should they play in the ninth inning at Tropicana Field this season?

“Kumbaya?”

Yes, once again the Tampa Bay Rays are reinventing the image of a closer. Pete Fairbanks is out, and group therapy is in.

When it comes to closing the door on a ninth-inning lead, the Rays will not rely on a single pitcher. Or two pitchers. Or even three. The initial idea is that four or more relievers — including Griffin Jax, Garrett Cleavinger, Edwin Uceta and Bryan Baker — could be called on for the final outs of close games.

“We’ve got a bunch of candidates,” manager Kevin Cash said on the first day of spring workouts. “Uceta has pitched in the back end of games, Clev has done it, Griffin Jax has done it, Bryan Baker has done it. They’ve all done it.

“And what we saw years ago (when) we did this, they really support each other. It was a pretty selfless group that went about it and I think there was some excitement: OK, how are we going to get these next nine outs of this ballgame tonight.”

It’s been a while since Tampa Bay went this route, but Cash is absolutely right. The last time the Rays chose to go with a closer-by-committee in 2022, they became only the second team in major-league history to have five relievers with at least five saves and yet none with more than nine.

The year before that, they set what was then an MLB record with 14 different relievers recording a save.

And, oh by the way, they averaged 93 wins and reached the playoffs in both seasons.

“That was the cool thing, I thought, years ago when the saves were kind of divvied around,” Cash said. “It was cool for all of them. They kind of came together as a group. You could tell they took some pride in saying, ‘We don’t know exactly when we’re going to pitch. We can kind of try to manage the game along with Kevin and Kyle (Snyder).’ They embraced whatever was being asked.”

So, no, this isn’t a radical departure for Tampa Bay. The Rays have had 56 different relievers record a save in the last decade, which is easily the most by any American League team. And those four relievers have all been used in high-leverage situations for multiple seasons.

“Cash is really good at feeding the hot hand or just knowing what situations he needs a certain guy for,” Baker said. “It should be interesting without a ‘named’ closer but I think everybody is ready to step in and get outs whenever called upon.

“We’ve got so many guys with electric stuff.”

The big question is consistency. And facing the pressure of the final three outs of the game.

“That’s why closers make so much money,” Cleavinger said. “It’s a tough job coming into a close game in a potentially hostile environment. But if we all stick with the process and not be afraid to attack and stay ahead (in the count) I think a lot of us are capable of doing the job.”

All four of those relievers have had moments of dominance in the past. Uceta has averaged 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings since arriving in Tampa Bay in 2024. Cleavinger had a 2.35 ERA in 2025, Jax had 10 saves and a 2.03 ERA in Minnesota in 2024, and Baker had a career-high 83 strikeouts in 68 innings last year.

But this same bullpen also contributed to Tampa Bay’s tailspin in 2025 with a horrendous July that included seven blown saves in a 22-game stretch. While the Rays finished the season tied for second in blown saves, they also were second in strikeouts and in the top half of the league in ERA.

“We had a tough stretch with our bullpen. They got bit with the long ball in situations that mattered the most,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “When you look at our bullpen, I could also point to the strikeout/walk rate, the velocity, just the overall body of work of that group in the areas that tend to be a little stickier year over year, they were as dominant as anyone in baseball.

“I think that group is going to be in a really good place.”

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