Teams have begun to use their best closers in a non-traditional role over the last few seasons. It used to be that the best reliever was the closer. That guy would almost exclusively pitch in the 9th inning of a game their team was leading. Recently we’ve seen the trend get away from that. Teams have figured out it’s more valuable to put that guy in the game when the game is actually on the line, rather than a clean inning that starts from scratch. Or that if the 7th or 8th inning has 2-3-4 due up, that’s the time to go to the best reliever.