We haven’t even made it through the first full scoring period in some fantasy baseball leagues and already the 2025 MLB closer position is challenging fantasy baseball managers to be all that they can be. It’s been a wild ride for fantasy baseball closers so far.

As this article is being written, three different Los Angeles Dodgers relievers have recorded saves, the Pittsburgh Pirates have already sent their presumptive MLB closer down to the minor leagues for a tune up, and 36 different relief pitchers have recorded at least one save.

 

 

 

MLB Closers 2025: Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Rankings

With so much activity at the 2025 MLB closer position do yourself a favor and check out our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid regularly. We update the grid as news happens. The following are a few bullpens that deserve your attention as we head into this weekend: 

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates didn’t waste much time in shaking up their bullpen. After a disappointing 2025 season that saw him pitch to a 5.77 ERA and eventually lose his closer’s job, David Bednar got off to an awful start this season (27.00 ERA, 2 losses, 1 save) which caused him to be sent down to the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t one Pirates reliever who truly stands out as Bednar’s heir apparent. Maybe it’ll be Dennis Santana who lowered his ERA to 2.70 and picked up the first save in the post Bednar era on Wednesday. With a bloated 9.82 ERA Colin Holderman certainly doesn’t look like he’s ready for prime time. 

With two of Ryan Borucki’s (0.00 ERA) four 2025 appearances coming in the eighth inning, he might also get a shot at closing games out for the Bucs. Keep an eye on Justin Lawrence. Opposing hitters have a career .274 BAA, but in his defense, he spent the first four years of his baseball career pitching his home games at hitter friendly Coors Field. 

He has 14 career saves and field managers will often turn to pitchers with MLB closer experience to pitch in late inning high leverage situations.

Detroit Tigers

We wouldn’t exactly call Tommy Kahnle the Tigers’ closer just yet, but he does have the team’s only save heading into Wednesday’s action. 

He has nine career saves and a 2.39 ERA since 2022. Beau Brieske, Will Vest and others could still be in the mix for save opportunities but watch Kahnle’s progress as the week progresses. He could be a good speculative waiver wire add.

 

 

 

Chicago Cubs

It’s way too early to start to panic but even though he has two early season saves, Ryan Pressly has struggled in three of his four appearances. We talked about speculative waiver wire adds in the previous section and Porter Hodge, who had nine saves for the Cubbies last season, might be someone you should consider adding to your roster just in case Pressly’s troubles continue. 

Hodge has also been a good resource for holds this season. Heading into Wednesday’s action he was tied with San Diego Padres reliever Jason Adams for the MLB lead in holds with three. 

Texas Rangers

Luke Jackson got off to a rocky start in his first appearance of the 2025 season but now seems to be settling into the closer’s role for the Rangers. Jackson has two saves and when he was unavailable after pitching two straight days, Chris Martin picked up a save as well. 

As we mentioned last week, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had been talking about Jackson’s previous MLB closer experience all preseason. Jackson looks like the closer for now and Martin should be a good resource for holds, (and an occasional save) moving forward.

Los Angeles Dodgers

This shouldn’t come as much of a shock but if you play in a league that uses SOLDS (saves + holds) or just plain old holds as a category, invest heavily in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Heading into Wednesday’s action Dodgers relievers led baseball with 10 cumulative holds. 

Rangers relievers were right behind them with 8 total holds. As a unit, Dodgers relievers also led all MLB bullpens with 48 strikeouts. Their closest competitors in that category were Blue Jays’ relievers who recorded 29 strikeouts. 

 

 

 

MLB Relievers On The Rise

Fernando Cruz, New York Yankees

Despite Devin Williams missing a few games this week while he’s on paternity leave, the Yanks are settled at the MLB closer position, and they have a very good setup man in Luke Weaver. 

However, Cruz’s stuff has looked nasty this season and he does have 30 career minor league saves under his belt, so he’s used to pitching in late inning high leverage situations. He could be a good resource for holds.

Jose Alvarado, Philadelphia Phillies

Alvarado has 45 career saves, 13 of which were recorded last season for the Phillies. He’s only pitched twice this season, but he hasn’t given up a run and he has struck out 5 batters while walking just one. Jordan Romano is the Phillies closer but he’s coming off an injury and he blew his first save chance of the season. 

Phillies manager Rob Thomson has been known to go with a hot hand approach in managing his bullpen and that might work to Alvarado’s advantage. Alvarado has an opportunity to record a handful (or more) of saves and could be a good resource for holds as well.

Mason Montgomery, Tampa Bay Rays

Montgomery had some issues as a starter last season in the minor leagues, but his stuff is simply electric now that he’s pitching out of the Rays bullpen. 

He hit 102.2 mph on the radar gun earlier this week and could see more opportunities to pitch in late inning high leverage situations as the season progresses.