Mariners will have a shoo-in candidate for MLB's new major award coming in 2026

Some interesting news was announced over the weekend, with the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) confirming that starting next season they will begin awarding Relief Pitcher of the Year in both the AL and NL. This move is long overdue, given that relievers have increasingly picked up the slack each year.

You only have to look at what Mariano Rivera meant to the New York Yankees when it comes to how important relievers can be to a team. Heck, he was the first ever player in Major League history to be voted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Apologies for inadvertently reminding Mariners fans with how Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki were screwed over in this regard.)

Jayson Stark proved to be one of the main influences when it came to creating the new award, and you can find out how the BBWAA came to their decision in this article for The Athletic (subscription required). In any event, Mariners fans should be excited by this development given that there is a prime candidate for it in Seattle.

Andrés Muñoz is pride of the Mariners

We are of course talking about Andrés Muñoz, who has developed into one of the top closers in the game today. He's having a career-year in the majors with a 2.4 WAR, 1.41 ERA and 30 saves (tied third-most in baseball), while also producing a 2.57 FIP and 1.020 WHIP.

Muñoz's Baseball Savant page is littered with percentile rankings in the 90s and 80s to illustrate just how effective he is. Highlights include ranking in the 99th percentile for Breaking Run Value, 98th percentile for Whiff% and 96th percentile for Fastball Velo.

Voted an All-Star for the second consecutive year, it's only when you compare him to Major League relievers as a whole that you realize his true value. He's ranked fourth overall with a 4.3 rWAR for the last two seasons, while also having the lowest OPS allowed at .490 over the same time period for any reliever with 100-plus appearances.

In the interest of objectivity, we do appreciate that critics will point towards Muñoz having an issue with walks since the All-Star break, at 15.4 percent. However, overall he has been tremendous and it's about what you do over the course of a regular season as opposed to just one part of it.

There will undoubtedly be plenty of quality relievers in contention for the BBWA award once it begins next season, including a fair few closers. However, whether you want to focus in on closers in particular or relievers as a whole, there should be little doubt that Muñoz is a shoo-in candidate for contention.