The Heart Attack Closer: Joe Borowski
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Despite giving up more runs than any closer in baseball, Joe Borowski was leading the league in saves for a championship-contending team. Here's how the mad man did it.
Big thank you to my friend Mathias of Overtime Heroics for his article on this topic:
www.overtimehe...
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Even if you account for the eras and parks in which the pitchers on that list were playing, Borowski’s 2007 was still surprisingly bad: his 89 ERA+ was _by far_ the lowest of any pitcher with 40+ saves (Brian Wilson’s 2008 season was the only one to come close, with a 95 ERA+ across 41 saves). Loved this video dude.
Meanwhile 2004 Shawn Chacon put up a nasty 7.11 ERA (70 ERA+) to go with 35 saves…oh and he had been an all star the year before as a starting pitcher for Colorado
Kinda explains a lot about the Rockies, doesn’t it? Lol
Bro jack cust… deserves a video for himself
I was at the 2007 ALCS Game 3 and I loved Borowski that year. One of the vivid memories I remember that night as a young kid was everyone screaming "Joe Bo! Joe Bo!" That was one of the most fun years I could remember.
Repent of your sins and trust in Jesus
What's even more amazing about the 07 season (which I remember fondly) is how GOOD his understudy, Rafael Betancourt, was.
2007 Rafael Betancourt 79 IP, 1.47 ERA, .756 WHIP, 2.22 FIP, 9.1 K/9, 1BB/9, 307 ERA+. Dude was downright dominant and yet only had 3 saves on the year thanks to Borowski. Then Betancourt in 2008, still not a closer, completely fell off the wagon at 71 IP, 5.07 ERA, 1.423 WHIP, 4.40 FIP, 8.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 84 ERA+.
Wild times to be a Cleveland fan for sure.
The other Rafael was great too. Rafael Perez was a lefty and was dominant as a middle reliever. My dad and I used to refer to them as Rafael Righty and Rafael Lefty. Bullpen would’ve been fantastic if you take away Joe Blow.
Perez and Betancourt are still my favorite relievers
Even though Lidge was 48 for 48 in saves in 2008, everytime he pitched for the Phillies he always put runners on and his saves never seemed to be easy.
You got that right. I was wondering how he was going to stop the madness each time he got into trouble.
Very Mark Melancon of him
41 SAVES
41 in the regular season Counting the saves he had in the post season, it’s a total of 48.
@@sammaugeri1479 Correct. When we say 48 for 48, we mean both the regular season and the playoffs.
As a Cubs fan, I can confirm that there is no more perfect descriptor for Joe Borowski than “The Heart Attack Closer.”
I’m not sure who was sweating harder: Joe Borowski on the mound, or Cubs fans when Joe Borowski was on the mound.
How about Carlos Marmol? I loved his k/9 but man it was torturous to watch him walk the bases loaded before he struck out the side.
If Dusty had started Joe Bo in the 8th instead of Prior that NLCS might have been very different
I can’t even begin to explain how miserable it was to know Joe Borowski would be coming out to close in these tight games as an Indians fan back in the day. That 2007 team was incredible, but if there was one major flaw, he was it. I seriously could not stand watching him blow/turn every 9th inning into a heart attack. 😂
He gave me Wickman Nostalgia except Wickman always made it more fun
“But we know by now what the Indians tend to do with 3-1 leads”
Damn dude, as a Indians fan, that cut deep.
Im a Cleveland fan. I vividly remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach every time Jo Bo came out. Whenever we were at the bar and it was time for Jo Bo to come out, Petey the owner would walk out and put a bottle of pepto bismol on the bar. Good times
😄 We all got ulcers from Joe Blow on the mound
I'm with you I got mad when he came in
Trevor Rosenthal always made me nervous back in 2014 and 2015. He usually got the job done but it always felt like the game wasn't shutdown for the cardinals.
I 100% agree with this
2018 Craig Kimberl did the same for me
@@warlordofbritannia which is so weird bc Kimbrel never had that effect in Atlanta. He stepped on the field and that game was DONE
@@griffinhays2053
Tbf, up until his last couple of months with us, he’d basically been the Atlanta Kimbrel
And after a mid-career crisis between 2019-2020, it looks like he’s back to being dominant again anyways
Effectively wild go description of him
Reminds me of Kenley Jansen the past few years. Every time he came in for a save I got nervous but then I would tune in to a talkin baseball episode later in the season and they would mention that Jansen is having a good year. In the moment it seems like he’s horrible but looking back, he’s been really good the past few years. It’s only the blown saves that stick in your mind (that one game vs the Astros where he gave up 5)
Should do something in Rob Deer, one of the first 3 true outcome hitters
I don't know if you do requests but can you talk about the angels no hitting the mariners during spring training in 2017
Ah, Stay Away Joe. I remember him as the one year wonder closer for the 2003 Cubs. I honestly forgot he pitched in Cleveland.
Just when I thought Danny Graves was the worst closer, here comes the Olive Man with this banger video
Being an Indians fan as a kid, I thought Borowski was pretty good. Funny how your perspective changes as an adult. Good video dude!
I love this video. Learning about somebody who dominated the league but in reality shouldn't have done so is fascinating.
I would love to see more videos like this but on the "Coors Effect" where a pitcher who plays for the Rockies has on paper a bad year, but when you substitute Coors field for a standard ball park he would have had an elite season.
You need to review Bob Wickman. Another disaster of a closer. Beer belly softball closer. They used to have a scoreboard graphic which was "The wick is lit.". Everyone, I mean everyone, knew there would be multiple base runners before he wriggled off the hook.
The last closer to he selected in the MLB Power Pros Dream Draft
Can I note that John Smoltz got 155 saves in 4 seasons, and 145 in 3. And he only closed games for 4 seasons, recovering from an injury.
He was on my fantasy baseball team this year. It was horrible
I love your videos man. Bringing up names I haven’t heard in years 😂
The 07 Indians were the team of my childhood. No matter how bad Borowski actually was, I will always look back fondly at him. That whole season was magical for 9 year old me.
That season was magical for me too, as a ten year old Red Sox fan!
Same here bro. This team is the one team I remember the most about. Will forever be pissed they couldn’t win one game out three to beat the Sox. They win that series, they probably cake walk through the Rockies in the World Series.
I’m a Tigers fan, and even though we were rivals, I still look back fondly on V-Mart, Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, Jhonny Peralta, and guilty pleasure Ryan Garko.
@@notsauer Loved Ryan Garko and Casey Blake. That was a fun season and competitive between both the Tribe and Tigers.
@@notsauer Don't worry, Ryan Garko is a guilty pleasure for me too. I even still have his autograph
It's really crazy how in 2022, people are still not realizing the value, or lack thereof, in a lot of these stats. It's obviously not a bad thing to have a high save total, but it's overrated now more than ever, especially as teams like the Rays don't really have a consistent closer. This was another really interesting video, great job man
LOL. Then there's Oscar Zamora, a closer for the Cubs who was even worse. The fans used to sing a parody of "That's amore" when he would come in.
"When the pitch looks so fat that the ball meets the bat, that's Zamora.
When the ball hits the wall and the runners all score, that's Zamora."
Wade Davis didn’t put me in agony. I always just expected him to blow it.
I need to correct you on something. While most kickers do create anxiety for their fans, Justin Tucker does not.
Using Steve Bartman as a punchline in a video in 2022 is weak. Leave the man be
Putting Wade Davis on there isn't fair he was playing in Colorado.
Craig Kimbrel is a Borowski. I remember watching the 2018 playoffs and he was the heart attack reliever for Boston. It was pretty funny actually. Also a minor example would be Rafael Montero in April/May for the Mariners last year. Dude gave me emotional fits when he was called upon LMAO
What a conundrum Kimbrel was in the 2018 playoffs. 6 for 6 in saves but of course a sky high ERA and WHIP....and ironically 7 saves in one postseason is the record
@@bostonredsox49 which Kimbrel could have tied or broken if Boston had faith in him.
@@lordrevanz16 Game 5 of the World Series wasn't a save situation and he pitched a ton in Games 3 and 4.
Bob Wickman often had this vibe for Cleveland. Even if he wasn't giving up runs, he always put guys on and made it interesting
As a Braves fan, that first clip of Will Smith made my stomach twist 🤪
Yep he was certainly a "heart attack closer" last season lol at least in the post season he pretty much shut everybody down though.
What I remember most about Borowski as a cubs fan is the insane amount of sweat the man was able to produce. it looked like he just got out of the shower all the time.
Joe is my husband's cousin. I've met him last time we were in Arizona, he's such a nice guy.
He always seemed like a nice guy during his time in Cleveland. I honestly really enjoyed him.
An underwhelming but successful closer with questionable stats is as Cleveland as it gets.
He felt like a local
Joe's bro, Mike is my fraternity brother. Good family....good people
Joe Borowski is from my hometown Bayonne, New Jersey.
He's actually a really nice guy. His mom and dad are super nice people. Would always see them in the diner uptown on Sundays . Last I heard Borowski was doing dbacks games living in Arizona.
The issue for closers and ERA is the small innings count they tend to get. If a ball club is .6 out of 160 games that means at best a closer will get about 100-120 innings if there’s a lead to protect in the 8th or 9th. Often times there isn’t though so they don’t come out at all. Or they’re the home team and rally in the bottom of the 9th. Trevor Hoffman only pitched 1089 innings over 18 years and Rivera did 1200 over 19. Both averaged around 70 a season…both Jansen and Chapman make 15 million a year to pitch 50-70
Innings. josh Hader makes 11 million dollars a year pre Free Agency to pitch 60-70 innings a season. You get the point. The ERA doesn’t matter. Converting the save opportunity is what matters. It’s crazy that starters make about that much on average and pitch 2-3 times as much. They’re paying Patrick Corbin 22 million a year to be the worst starting pitcher in baseball.
As a teen I had a lot of the cooler 2007 Indians newspaper clippings hung on the wall in my bedroom, and for one (maybe about them clinching the central) I very clearly remember there being a story by Plain Dealer writer Terry Pluto being lower down the page titled "Relax, Cleveland fans - Joe Borowski is your closer!" No sir, I don't think I will 'relax.'
2021 Alex Reyes even worse he choked in the wildcard tho I think he will turn it around this year lol
Borowski was Doug Jones (RIP) raised to the power of Doug Jones. He got the saves, and nearly killed the fans and his manager in the process. He was Mitch Williams if Mitch could get the job done.
Cleveland has had a few closers like Joe, but of course he was the worse.
Your vids are not showing up in my sub box. Loved Joe on the 2003 Cubs
Cubs fans, back me up here:
How many heart attacks did Carlos Marmol give you? Dude was filthy, but had absolutely no control whatsoever.
not quite a Borowski, but Shawn Chacon, 2004 Rockies:
35/44 saves
52 K's
52 BB's
7.11 ERA
Will Smith 2021 season. Every time he come to pitch I was scared
I'm a Yankee and raider fan, 20 years of seabass and Mo never had me worried. #Blessed
Mitch Williams: Finally, a worthy opponent!
I remembered Borowski from his days as a Braves prospect then and it was fascinating at the time how his ERA was huge and he still kept getting saves for the Indians. Really an interesting case on how you don't have to be the best pitcher on the team to get a lot of saves.
2006 Brad Lidge: 32 saves, 5.28 ERA, 85 ERA+ 🤢
Jack Cust, jesus christ that's a name I haven't heard in forever
Jack Cust would have fit right in within the modern game. In 2008 he hit .231 with 111 walks, 197 strikeouts, and 33 HR. He has a career OPS+ of 120, which is very good, but I don't feel like he was ever really seen as a good hitter. He was a step below the three true outcome king of that era (Adam Dunn) in terms of production, but he was still pretty good.
Man's is a legend for falling down and trying to score while crawling to home plate. I mean, it was totally embarassing and he wasn't even close but I'll always remember that lowlight.
Can I introduce you to Todd "The Rollercoaster" Jones
“He’s basically Edwin Diaz before it was cool” lol 😂
If you want a closer that was leaving a team on the edge of their seat, then I recommend the 1998 Mets, with their closer John Franco = 0-8, with a 3.62 ERA, 38 saves. Hes the reason why the Mets didnt get the wild card in 1998 and why they signed Armando Benitez after the 1998 season
They actually acquired Benitez by trade with the Orioles (I believe for catcher Charles Johnson).
Heart attack closer? Two words. Kenley. Jansen.
Who was managing that bullpen?!
The amount of anxiety that this man probably had to go through couldn't have been healthy.
This video brought back some nightmares
To me save percentage is how to determine a great closer…. Usually
Billy Wagner should be in the hall of fame
Absolutely. On of the top 5 closers ever but keeps getting snubbed by the idiot HoF voters.
Any of the Tigers' closers since 2012
The average philadelphia phillies closer
So glad I found this channel. More of this please! It’s fascinating to examine the players of my youth in the lens of modern statistics.
One of the best baseball channels out there. Keep going dude, love your content!
It's also interesting to note that the Indians brought in Keith Foulke to compete with him in Spring Training for the closer role. That competition never occurred since Foulke retired shortly after agreeing to a deal with Cleveland.
The nail-biting aspect reminds me of Don "Full Pack" Stanhouse, the All Star closer for the 78/79 Orioles. He had a WHIP up to the sky and make everybody fret. But he'd succeed more often than not.
SWING AND A GROUND BALL. FLAGGED BY BOROWSKI, THEY WILL THROW HOME THAT IS ALL THEY WILL GET NOW ROUNDING THIRD LOGAN WHAT IS HE DOING!??!?!? THE THROW TO THIRD, HES OUT AND THE GAME IS OVER, WHAT WAS NOOK LOGAN THINKING?? WHAT WAS HE WATCHING??? WHERE WAS HE GOING??? I CANT BELIEVE IT, ITS A DOUBLE PLAY, AND THE GAME IS OVER
Is this Shea station jolly olive!! Keep it up in blitz ball. You’ll find the twig soon!
To be fair his career was plagued with major injuries to his throwing arm. Even broke it once with the Cubs. Torn biceps, triceps, every year it was something.
Knowing Joe personally, he definitely would never use that as an excuse. But it is a factor that should've been mentioned here. It definitely affected him. Which is one big reason why he could start out well, then go completely downhill. He was playing through a lot of pain.
He's been announcing for Arizona. He's a very humble, funny guy who can take a ribbing regarding his career. In the end, beyond baseball, he's simply a great all-around guy.
If that's the reason, then many players also experience it. Having good to great careers in their early days only to got derailed by injuries and never be consistently good again.
@@aoitsukishiro9926 I never stated that he was the only one. Of course it has happened to many others. I'm merely sticking to the individual the video is about.
And whom I know personally.
Well he's from Bayonne so odds are he's a cool guy. Kidding aside great comment, I mean only 0.0001% of pros make it to the majors so nothing to be ashamed of at all. Also, pretty cool you like Andy Kaufman
Two names John Franco & Mitch Wild Thing Williams
John Franco's 1998 season is magical
Rafael soriano always did that. It never felt like a sure win until it was over
Edwin Borowski Díaz
I knew Joe from about 1980 - '90 when I hung out on Schuyler Pl in Bayonne during those years. We were in the same ccd confirmation class at St. Mary's church, seems like a 100 years ago. Joe was a good athlete, tough to tackle and move off the snow mtn playing king of the mtn, and even harder to get a hit off playing wiffle ball in the driveway.
Last saw Joe in Camden Yards as an Oriole back in '95 when I was doing center field camera for then Home Team Sports.
We also had Danan Hughes who made it to the NFL playing for the KC Chiefs catching td passes from the greatest qb ever, Joe Montana. Very cool to see these guys you grew up with playing sports, make it to the show.
Just about everyone I knew in Bayonne has moved on. Certainly not the town I grew up in, it's far worse now. Anyway, I wish them the best.
I had to actually get a new bob wickman calendar for this year, thanks for the reminder
4:32 it didn’t make sense at the time either. This is a fatal flaw that the Cleveland front office has. They don’t want to spend big BUT they also don’t want to always buy low on redemption projects so every once in awhile they’ll overspend on a mid-tier veteran a couple years removed from their peak in hopes of a return to glory. It almost never works out. Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Josh Bell…
Ahhh the 3rd member of Cleveland's Kerosene Gang
1. Bob Wickman
2. David Riske
3. Joe Borowski
There wasn't a sure thing in Cleveland until Cody Allen (Even then he poured the gasoline a lot, he just never lit the match)
Mariano Rivera spoiled the closers role. He became the standard for what a closer should be, which is very unfair. Its like, if youre not Mariano, or even what Smoltz and Gagne were from 2002-2004, then youre a failure as a closer, which is not fair.
Only stat that matters if youre a closer is WHIP. However, if a closer has a high WHIP, but no blown saves or barely any, then im fine with leaving him as the closer, since he has luck on his side.
I dont think anyone has ever seen the amounts of saves a closer has an indication if hes a good closer or not. They might look at blown saves, but not so much saves gotten overall.
A 6.75 ERA through May is not an Allstar pace…. Had to throw that out there ha. Dave’s don’t mean anything when you’re allowing those kind of runs. It’s just one of those fluke stat lines that pop up from time to time. He was garbage.
I have a good country song about this...it is titled, well any country song really, they aren't that original...they are all about that one guy on the high school team that failed. So basically country music is a high school football song.
So anytime someone says I have a country song that I made up. just loop back to this....and if it's a girl, just loop back to this, but she is probably the scorned ex..
And we have a hit song on our hands!!
To me Percival will always be the guy who invented the mix of foreign substance modern pitchers used before spider tack and before the MLB finally cracked down in spite of Trevor Bauer repeatedly asking them to do so (and when they said no, he decided if you can’t beat them then join them.
Will not be surprised if Aroldis Chapman Borowskis this year
Interesting note about Borowski:
In 2006 with FLA, he saved 36 in 69.2 innings and 3.75 ERA
in 2007 with CLE, he saved 45 in 65.2 innings and 5.07 ERA
However, his FIP each year was identical: 4.12
The biggest difference in the two seasons was that he walked nearly twice as many batters in 2006 (33) than in 2007 (17)
I like the premise of this video but you need a pop filter or something The whistling S was very harsh. Sorry if that comes off as mean but was destroying my ears. Again great video about saves
I bet Jose Mesa came really close to achieving a Borowski
The fact that this is a thing is what I love about baseball
This guy is fortunate he wasn't charged with attempted murder of Cleveland fans.
It feels like the Indians have had a hamdful of closers that were awesome in save situations, and terrible in non save situations . I assume non were this bad though
Alex Reyes of the Cardinals almost got into the borowski group.
Angels winning in 02 was pure luck
As an Angels fan, yes but I’ll take it 😂
Sometimes I look at their stats, and I dont know how they did it. How they even won 100 games is beyond me, in a division that belonged to Oakland and Seattle. Yes, they had Garrett, Glaus, and Salmon, but thats it. And their starting pitching was ok. But they did have a very nice bullpen, with Percival and late September call up K-Rod
Their offense I guess was very disciplined, following the Mike Sciosia guidelines
He did it on purpose...let the offense feel good, lul threm into a false sense of security, then shut it down
If you're pitching with a lot of confidence closing a game is fun and exciting.
that game 5 vs yanks in ALDS was so scary he had so many bombs hit foul barely
So if I understand it right, he let the other teams get just enough runs to catch up but not enough to take the lead?
jolly olive
Will Smith for the Braves last year (minus the postseason) 😬
Ahhhh the Borowski method. It isn't pretty, but it gets results
sounds like this guy was the original Jeurys Familia.
do a video on fernando rodney another closer that gave fan bases heart attacks
An 85 mph fastball. What were we thinking.
David Bednar is having a “borowski” in 2024
Can you do Shawn Chacón’s 2004 season or George Sherrill’s 2008?
Man Joe Borowski was a name I haven't heard in a long time
Rick aguilara mention. Nice!
Nice work. Where do these creators get access to all these clips?
Arguably best to worst season ever