#500

I try not to jump into the whole Yankees/Knicks/Giants thing on this because I know most all of you don't root for those teams.

But, I had to take this time to congratulate Mariano Rivera for save #500. The milestone came on the same day that Rivera also recorded his first RBI, drawing an hilarious bases loaded walk from Francisco Rodriguez.

Few things in sports are absolute truths: Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever, Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player ever, the "Miracle on Ice" is the greatest moment in American sports history, RBI baseball for Nintendo is the greatest sports video game ever created, etc. However, you can add Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in baseball history to that list.

Side note: is there anyone out there that still would argue that Trevor Hoffman is a better closer?

At first glance the regular season numbers are comprable:
Rivera: 2.30 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 973 K in 881 games
Hoffman: 2.76 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 1074 K in 953 games

But in the big situations, is there any question who you would take?
Rivera postseason: 8-1, 0.77 ERA, 34 SV, 0.75 WHIP
Hoffman postseason: 1-2, 3.46 ERA, 4 SV, 1.23 WHIP

Arguing that Trevor Hoffman is better with a straight-face is like arguing Dominique Wilkins was a better player than Jordan.