When Carlos Martinez first slid into the closer’s role for the St. Louis Cardinals back in July, he frequently made games a bit more interesting than they should’ve been. In July, he was frequently the human embodiment of “bend but don’t break.” It wasn’t a super fun way for games to end but at the end of the day, Martinez got the job done.
After the 1.636 WHIP Martinez had in July, he lowered that to 1.375 in August, and then even more to 0.714 in September. He has gotten better and better in the closer role as he’s gotten more comfortable and had more experience.