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I don’t like the Yankees. Many people don’t. ESPN and Sportscenter are not in that category. Of course they love them, homeruns, highlights, big names, scandals, a history of success, New York City, all of those things sell. However, I think they are going a bit overboard. In the past three days, watching Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter cover highlights and analysis of the ALCS, I have heard one ESPN analyist say that Mariano Rivera is the greatest pitcher of all time and one ESPN analyist call Alex Rodriquez the greatest hitter of all time. Now, unfortunately I do not remember the name of said analysists mostly because in my reaction, which involved a lot of screaming at the television, cursing, and nearly throwing the remote control, I completely forgot the name of these stupid fools. Why are these analysists stupid fools? Well I’m glad you asked. Both Mariano Rivera and Alez Rodriquez are deadly in what they do and put up great stats, but both lack one thing durability and because of that, they cannot be considered the greatest.

Mariano Rivera had 526 career saves, 2nd most all time to Trevor Hoffman. Depending on when Hoffman and Rivera respectively decide to hang them up, Rivera could be the saves king when its all said and done. He had a 2.25 career ERA and a WHIP of 1.01. He also hasn’t thrown more than 80 and 2/3 innings in any season other than 1996. I don’t know what he would be like as a starting pitcher, but likely, because he only has the one good pitch, albeit amazing, and untested durability, he would not have done as well as a starting pitcher. He’s amazing at what he does and has amazing mental toughness, but can we really call him the greatest pitcher of all time over guys like Cy Young, who had the durability to win 511 games, or Nolan Ryan, who had the durability to strike out 5714 batters? I say no.

I know what you’re thinking. How can I question Alex Rodriguez’s durability. He hasn’t had any major injuries. He’s played 2166 games. He’s never played less than 124 games in a season. Well, my answer to your confusion is his lack of postseason success. Now again I know what you’re thinking. How can I still be calling A-Rod a choker. He’s doing great this year. He is doing great this year, because he missed 38 regular season games and received regular rest often in the regular season. I firmly believe that A-Rod’s postseason success this year is a result of the breaks he got this regular season and also that his past failures were as a result of breaking down late in the season in October. The Yankees did the right thing giving him rest in the regular season as shown by the results he’s putting out this month. In fact I’d argue they needed to. A-Rod is a great weapon when used right, but the greatest hitters of all time, in my mind Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Joe DiMaggio, in that order, were great because they couldn’t be used wrongly at the plate. Their teams didn’t need to give them major rest for them to produce in October.