Tonight Mariano Rivera become just the fourth man to record 400 saves, though he's best bet of the four to make it to the Hall. Rivera comes out second in my Relief Wins research (behind just one man, Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm). Smith is on the writers ballot but will have to wait at least until after much more deserving Goose Gossage gets his plaque. The other two men, John Franco and Trevor Hoffman, though not yet eligible, are marginal candidates at best. Rivera is clearly the best reliever of his generation.

Oddly, Rivera made history of sorts one night after the majors recorded its first full slate of games without a save in 28 years. That made me wonder what the odds of that happening are for this season and if those had dramatically changed to the point that such a rare occurrence could, ah, occur.

I thought it was either that or dumb luck. So let's see. Here are the odds of a full slate of games being completed without a save for each of the last 28 seasons:

Note that even though the percentage of games saved did not go up that radically, with more games today (15 as opposed to 13), the odds go through the roof.

It's no wonder that the last time that all closers were shut out on the same night was in 1979, but it is odd that it happened this year. Sure, the save percent went down slightly in 2006, but it still is among the best seasons all time:

So it was dumb luck after all. I should have known, what with Jim Bowden making a great trade this weekend and Brett Myers winning in his first start in two weeks in a game in which David Bell actually homered(!)—dumb luck abounded.