It happens every fall, without fail: Some reliever gets red-hot, then his manager rides him beyond all reasonable limits because that’s what the situation demands – and yet he gets the job done so often, so regularly, that he helps push his team to greater heights, simply because that’s what October requires of you.

Sometimes that’s Andrew Miller (2016). Sometimes that’s Kevin Ginkel (2023). But it’s always someone. Last year at this time, we tried to look ahead and identify who those Relief Aces might end up being, trying to get a little deeper than just “the closer.” We named Cade Smith and Luke Weaver, who did indeed end up being the two most valuable relievers of last October . We also brought up Kaleb Ort and Keegan Akin, which is a good reminder that you can’t win them all.

Let

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