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One of the more frustrating baseball developments in recent years is that we no longer have a right to know who is and isn't closing for each team. It's not a high priority for managers to tell us. I suspect many of them don't even know.

Many closer scenarios will take weeks to settle, to the extent they ever do. The trend is toward looser bullpen designations, with the best reliever not always (but still usually) being reserved for the ninth inning.

What I'm saying is the pursuit of saves involves a lot more guesswork than it used to. And I'm here to offer my best guess, along with my degree of confidence, for every bullpen. By presenting it in terms of a "pecking order," you can also find candidates for holds, if that's a stat of import in your league.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Scott McGough

Atlanta Braves

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter

Baltimore Orioles

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Felix Bautista

Boston Red Sox

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Kenley Jansen

Chicago Cubs

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Michael Fulmer, Brad Boxberger

Chicago White Sox

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Kendall Graveman, Reynaldo Lopez

Cincinnati Reds
Pecking order

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Alexis Diaz

Cleveland Guardians
Pecking order

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak

Colorado Rockies
Pecking order

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Daniel Bard

Detroit Tigers
Pecking order

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Alex Lange

Houston Astros

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Ryan Pressly  

Kansas City Royals

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Scott Barlow, Aroldis Chapman

Los Angeles Angels

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Jimmy Herget, Carlos Estevez

Los Angeles Dodgers

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson

Miami Marlins

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? none

Milwaukee Brewers

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Devin Williams

Minnesota Twins

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Jhoan Duran, Jorge Lopez

New York Mets

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Adam Ottavino, David Robertson

New York Yankees

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Clay Holmes

Oakland Athletics

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Trevor May

Philadelphia Phillies

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Craig Kimbrel, Seranthony Dominguez

Pittsburgh Pirates

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? David Bednar

San Diego Padres

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Josh Hader

San Francisco Giants

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Camilo Doval

Seattle Mariners

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Paul Sewald, Andres Munoz

St. Louis Cardinals
Pecking order

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos

Tampa Bay Rays

Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Peter Fairbanks, Jason Adam

Texas Rangers

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Jose Leclerc, Will Smith

Toronto Blue Jays

Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Jordan Romano

Washington Nationals
Pecking order
player headshot
Carl Edwards WAS RP

Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Kyle Finnegan