2026 Relief Pitcher Preview
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno and DVR continue their 2026 position preview series and look at relief pitchers -- focusing on closers around the league as spring training approaches.
2026 Listener League Details!
Official Rules: https://theathletic.lnk.to/RBLLRules
Signup: https://nfc.shgn.com/signup/baseball/RBLL
Rundown
5:37 ADP Tier 1 -- Mason Miller, Edwin Díaz, Jhoan Duran, Andrés Muñoz & Cade Smith
15:39 ADP Tier 2 -- Aroldis Chapman, David Bednar, Josh Hader & Devin Williams
25:28 ADP Tier 3 -- Carlos Estévez, Ryan Helsley, Raisel Iglesias, Emilio Pagán, Jeff Hoffman & Pete Fairbanks
37:12 ADP Tier 4 -- Trevor Megill, Daniel Palencia, Kenley Jansen, Abner Uribe, Dennis Santana & Ryan Walker
50:55 ADP Tier 5 -- Griffin Jax, Seranthony Domínguez, Robert Suarez, Edwin Uceta, Robert Garcia, Riley O’Brien
57:32 Unsettled Situations: LAA, ATH, WAS, ARI, COL & MIN
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/FyBa9f3wFe
Subscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels
Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
Editor: Jason Potere
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to rates and barrels. It is Monday, February 9th. Derek Van Riper here with |
| 0:18.4 | Enosaris. On this episode, we continue our position preview series. |
| 0:22.8 | We make a move into the bullpen. |
| 0:24.8 | This is our 2026 reliever preview, focusing very heavily on closers because saves are critically |
| 0:31.4 | important in most fantasy leagues. |
| 0:33.4 | We will talk a bit about setup guys and some saves plus holds leagues a little bit later on in the show as well. |
| 0:41.0 | We are actually pleased to announce, too. |
| 0:43.7 | We have our first listener league set up for 2026. |
| 0:47.2 | We're launching a 2026 fantasy baseball league hosted on NFBC. |
| 0:51.3 | It's free to enter. |
| 0:53.0 | No purchase required. |
| 0:57.0 | And it will run for the full MLB regular season. |
| 1:00.3 | It is a skill-based contest using standard NFBC scoring. |
| 1:07.1 | The top three overall finishers at the end of the season will win some merch vouchers to the official Rates and Barrel's merch store. |
| 1:11.8 | You must be 18 or older or otherwise eligible under NFBC rules, void where prohibited full rules are linked in the show notes. It's really cool, you know, because we're |
| 1:16.7 | going to use the NFBC 50-style format. Those are 12 team leagues, 50 round slow drafts, and those are |
| 1:23.6 | going to start Monday, February 16th, 1 o'clock Eastern. |
| 1:28.3 | So big prizes in terms of vouchers for top three in the overall. |
| 1:32.0 | And then we'll have some smaller prizes for individual league winners that are vouchers for either a free hat or a free t-shirt as well. |
| 1:39.0 | So that we're all on the same page for people who've never done this format before, |
| 1:42.3 | a quick little strategy update |
| 1:44.3 | so that you know what you're doing. These have no free agency. So you're drafting all of your |
... |
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