Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
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David Schoenfield
Multiple authors
consider Mason Miller The latest evolution of flame-throwing, fire-breathing relief pitchers, from Dick Raddatz to Goose Gossage to Rob Dibble to Billy Wagner Craig Kimbrel And Aroldis Chapman. Pitching an inning blast of a thrilling 101 mph fastball, Miller went 37⅓ scoreless innings last season until he allowed two runs and shut out a win last week. San Diego Padres on Chicago Cubs.
Even then, it was a little uncomfortable, as the Cubs’ rally began with a 49.5 mph roller down the third-base line that might have been a foul ball. Two more base hits, a groundout and a wild pitch followed, and Miller saw his ERA rise from 0.00 to 1.26 and let his batting average skyrocket from .071 to … .125.
Despite that little blip, Miller’s dominance has put his name in the conversation for some of the best reliever seasons we’ve seen since the Padres acquired him from the Athletics last season.
Let’s find out how true that statement is: Are we looking at the best relief season in MLB history? Here’s how Miller’s astounding early numbers stack up against the all-time reliever record — and how many new marks Miller could set this season.
(For all records, we’re using a minimum of 50 innings pitched in a season.)
Minimum batting average allowed
Current record: .113 (Kirby Yates2024 Texas Rangers)
Miller, 2026: .121
Record in the game? yes
I predicted before the season that Miller would be allowed to play for a sub-100 average. Since August 6 of last season, including two postseason appearances, he has allowed a .081 average. As his outing against the Cubs showed though, it takes a few soft hits here and there to make a sub-100 average work harder.
Yates’ 2024 season flew under the radar at the time as he allowed just 23 hits in 61⅔ innings. He finished strong, allowing four hits over his final 22 innings. According to Statcast, Yates’ expected average allowed was .146, so he allowed about seven fewer hits than expected based on his contact quality.
Certainly, the fewer balls Miller allows in play, the better his chances of beating Yates’ average. That means a lot of strikeouts…
Strikeout rate
Current record: 52.5% (Aroldis Chapman, 2014 Cincinnati Reds)
Miller, 2026: 55.7%
Record in the game? yes
Three relievers have faced 50% of batters in a season: Chapman in 2014, Kimbrel in 2012 (50.2%) and Edwin Diaz in 2022 (50.2%). Chapman was absolutely dominant in 2014, throwing 494 pitches at 100-plus mph — and hitting just 39 of them.
Chapman threw his fastball about 69% of that season, and then often went to his slider with two strikes, but Miller’s approach was much different. He throws his slider 52.6% compared to 40% for his triple-digit hitters. His swing-and-miss rate on his fastball is slightly higher than Chapman’s in 2014 — 44.6% to 41% — but Miller produces an absurd 73.6% whiff rate with his slider, so his overall swing-and-miss rate is much higher than Chapman’s. 4%, 4%, 4%.
That should give Miller a good chance at the record, and after a blip in which he faced just two of 16 batters, he’s back on track with five strikeouts in his previous two appearances. Batters stopped swinging as much at the slider, so Miller adjusted and threw his fastball more often.
Strikeouts in a season
Current record: 181 (Dick Radtz, 1964 Boston Red Sox)
Miller’s 2026 Pace: 153
Record in the game? no
Radtz was a 6-foot-6 mountain of a man nicknamed “The Monster.” He threw from a Don Drysdale-like whippy sidearm motion and had a dominant three-year run from 1962 to 1964 when he went 40-21 with a 2.17 ERA as a reliever — while averaging 138 innings per season, including 157 in 1964. (advised by Ted Williams), said, “I changed my hand position … and it was all downhill from there.”
Miller, of course, won’t approach 100 innings, let alone 150. He pitched 61⅔ innings last year, producing 104 strikeouts, a whopping 15.2 cases per nine. He is likely to surpass the sub-100-innings mark of 157, set by Brad Lease. Houston Astros In 2004. Josh Hader 143 in 81⅓ innings in 2018, a top-10 all-time mark.
Minimum OPS Allowed
Current record: .358 (Craig Kimbrel, 2012 Atlanta Braves)
Miller, 2026: .285
Record in the game? yes
The key here is to not allow extra-base hits or too many walks. Kimbrel had a .126 average and allowed just four extra-base hits in 2012, though they had three home runs. He walked just 14 batters in 62⅔ innings, the best control season of his career.
So far, so good for Miller. All seven hits he has allowed have been singles, and he has dropped his walk rate from 4.1 walks per nine innings in 2025 to 1.6 so far in 2026. Miller allowed five home runs in 2025 — all on his fastball. Four of those came on first-pitch fastballs, so there was a certain pattern, which Miller adjusted by throwing more first-pitch sliders. It is working so far.
Lowest ERA
Current record: 0.54 (Jack Britton2016 Baltimore Orioles)
Miller, 2026: 1.04
Record in the game? probably not
This will be a tough one. If Miller pitches the same 61⅔ innings as last season, he might allow just three earned runs; Four earned runs in those innings would leave him with a 0.58 ERA. Britton allowed four earned runs in 67 innings (and three earned runs, all of which came in the same outing). His Keys: One home run allowed and a .085 batting average with runners in scoring position. Miller has no margin for error here.
A bloop and a bang and it looks out of reach.
Saves the most
Current record: 62 (Francisco Rodriguez, 2008 Los Angeles Angels)
Miller’s 2026 Pace: 50
Record in the game? no
Rodriguez’s save record is one of the most underrated records in the sport as he has a large margin over Edwin Diaz’s No. 2 guys. Seattle Mariners In 2018 and for Bobby Thigpen Chicago White Sox In 1990. Rodriguez’s season was interesting because he made 76 appearances but only 68⅓ innings pitched — so the innings total is reasonable by 2026 standards, but he had five one-out saves and three two-out saves, as Angels manager Mike Scioscia often brought Rodriguez into games after danger. Indeed, the Angels had too many games that year: Rodriguez was hardly perfect, blowing seven save opportunities, so it’s hard to match his sheer chance volume.
He pitched three days in a row on five separate occasions — something managers are increasingly reluctant to do these days. Miller pitched three straight days once last season and has yet to do so in 2026. Jason Adam And Adrian Morzon Everyone has a save for the Padres, as manager Craig Stamen will give another reliever a save to avoid using Miller three days in a row.
Maximum Savings (No Blows)
Current record: 55-for-55 (Eric Gagne, 2003 Los Angeles Dodgers)
Miller, 2026: 11-for-11 savings
Record in the game? Maybe?
Miller may not get that many opportunities, but here’s what he has: a perfect season. Gagne lost three games that year (and blew a save while picking up a loss in the All-Star Game, if you want to count that).
Three other relievers went at least 30 games without a save: Jose Valverde went 49-for-49. Detroit Tigers In 2011, Baltimore’s Britton was 47-for-47 in 2016 and Leese was 41-for-41 in 2016. Philadelphia Phillies In 2008. Liese, however, was the only one with a perfect season: He went 2-0 and was 7-for-7 with a save opportunity in the postseason.
Alas… the Liz also lost the All-Star Game that year.
Well, maybe it doesn’t count, but free runners in extra innings make it harder to go perfect in 2026. It’s easy to get a save or lose a game without even giving up a hit One of Miller’s two losses last year came this way — not giving up a hit but instead loading the bases and walking the winning run.
supreme war
Current record: 8.2 (Goose Gossage, 1975 White Sox) / 5.2 (Bruce Sutter, 1977 Cubs)
Miller’s 2026 Pace: 4.5 (Baseball-Reference) / 5.4 (Fangraphs)
Record in the game? It’s complicated
Because Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs calculate their pitcher WAR so differently, one is out of reach, but the other is in play. Gossage pitched 141⅔ innings, going 9-8 with 26 saves and a 1.84 ERA. Baseball-Reference also factors leverage into its reliever wars, and Gossage pitched a lot of high-leverage innings that year.
The highest bWAR for a sub-100-inning reliever is Jonathan Papelbon’s 5.0 for the Red Sox in 2006, when he had a 0.92 ERA and 35 saves in 68⅓ innings.
FanGraphs WAR focuses on hits, walks and home runs — and Miller has dominated those categories so far, posting 1.2 fWAR through the Padres’ first 36 games, putting him on pace for the record although he hasn’t come close to Sutter’s 107 innings in 1977.
