MLB Bullpen Report: Do You Have Richard Lovelady on Your Bingo Card?

A familiar refrain over the last few weeks has been, “I did not have this on my 2026 fantasy baseball bingo card.”

It’s wild how many times I have uttered this phrase when it comes to my bullpen work. I did not have Rico Garcia or Richard Lovelady getting save chances on my 2026 fantasy baseball bingo card, did you? Yet here we are.

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Each week, we try to make sense out of it to help you find relief pitcher options that can get you saves, find holds, and get ratio and strikeout help where you can. Let’s jump into it for the week.

MLB Bullpen Report

AL East

The Baltimore Orioles have a timeshare between Rico Garcia and Anthony Nunez. Both have three saves. Closer Ryan Helsley, on the shelf with an elbow issue, is playing catch as he attempts to work his way back.

Aroldis Chapman continues to be great and defy Father Time in Boston, where he has 12 saves and a minuscule 0.51 ERA and a 33.8% K%. Garrett Whitlock leads the team with nine holds.

New York: David Bednar has hit a bad stretch in New York again, blowing a save on Sunday before coming back to earn a 36-pitch save on Monday. He has not had a chance since; veteran Camilo Doval earned his first save of the year on Tuesday, on a night we can presume that Bednar was off. Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill lead the team with 10 and eight holds, respectively.

Bryan Baker earned three more saves this week for the Tampa Bay Rays, pushing his total to 14 this season. Ian Seymour has two holds, a win, and a save in the same time frame.

Toronto: Louis Varland is the closer right now, earning two more saves this week to run his total to seven with a 0.65 ERA and a 36.7% K%. Jeff Hoffman (two) and Tyler Rogers (one) also earned saves this week. Interesting to note that Varland and Hoffman have traded off four consecutive games on saves. I do not think the job is dead for Hoffman, but Varland has done nothing to lose it either.

AL Central

Could there be a closer controversy in Chicago? Seranthony Dominguez blew a big save last Sunday against the crosstown Chicago Cubs, and Grant Taylor got the next opportunity and converted on Tuesday. Dominguez has 10 saves but has a ghastly 4.82 ERA. We will be watching this one.

Can we talk about Cade Smith for a minute?  He earned his 17th save on Friday night and notched three of those saves this week. Top setup guy Hunter Gaddis earned one on Thursday, a night Smith was presumably off. Smith has a 2.55 ERA and a terrific 36.4% K%.

Detroit: No saves this week, but I assume that Kenley Jansen will get the next chance.

Three pitchers had saves this week in the Twin Cities: lefty Taylor Rogers, Andrew Morris, and Anthony Banda. Avoid until we have some clarity. Rogers earned a second save of the week on Saturday night. He could end up being the best bet here; time will tell.

AL West

The Athletics continue to use a committee approach, with any of four guys claiming a share of the role: Hogan Harris, Mark Leiter Jr., Joel Kuhnel, and Jack Perkins.

Houston is expecting veteran Josh Hader back soon. Manager Joe Espada suggested that Hader would need to log at least five rehab appearances before coming back to the top spot in the Astros beleaguered bullpen. Veterans Bryan King and Bryan Abreu each earned a save this week, with King getting a second consecutive one on Saturday night. Could Hader return next week?  We will see.

I do not know what to tell you about the Los Angeles Angels’ bullpen, other than that it gives very little relief. Kirby Yates is being used more often, but he blew a save chance on Wednesday night. Ryan Zeferjahn had the only save in the entire bullpen until Saturday night, when Yates earned his first one of the year. I still think Yates will have the job soon.

Andres Munoz remains the closer in Seattle and has lowered his season ERA to 4.58 with nine saves. The strikeout rate remains elite at 38.1%. Setup guy Matt Brash returned from the IL on Wednesday and has earned a win and a hold in his two appearances since that activation.

NL East

Been a quiet week for Pete Fairbanks in Miami, with only one save this week for the veteran closer.

Clayton Beeter returned from the IL this week in Washington and may have come back to a committee with Richard Lovelady and Gus Varland. Lovelady had two saves this week.

NL Central

Chicago: Daniel Palencia has not had a save opportunity as the Chicago Cubs are mired in a seven-game losing streak. He remains stuck on three saves.

Most of the relievers in the Cincinnati bullpen literally have a chance for a save every night. I would argue this is a five-man committee: Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft, Pierce Johnson, Brock Burke, and Tejay Antone. Santillan has the only save this week for the Reds. Hard to read the tea leaves; just too many options here. On Saturday night, Santillan imploded and blew the save in a game that Johnson ended up winning. Emilio Pagan is not throwing yet with his bad hamstring. Keep watching.

We keep watching the Milwaukee situation to see how this competition will settle between Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill. Uribe looks like he is the main guy right now, but Chad Patrick also notched a save this week, too. Neither Uribe nor Megill has been great, but Uribe has the only other save this week. Lean Uribe…for now.

Riley O’Brien has held the closing job in St. Louis all season, and he has 13 saves on the season. However, he has struggled over the last couple of outings, seeing his ERA climb to 3.13. O’Brien has a loss and a blown save in his last two outings. Could the top setup option, JoJo Romero, get chances, too?

NL West

Paul Sewald has his ERA down to 3.72 and has earned 12 saves, two more this week. Jonathan Loaisiga and Taylor Clarke are the top setup options in Arizona.

Colorado: This looks like a committee between Antonio Senzatela and Juan Mejia. Mejia has the only save this week, while Senzatela has a hold and a win. Seth Halvorsen is back from Triple-A and could figure into this mix before too long if he keeps performing well.

Tanner Scott is the closer in Los Angeles, even though Will Klein got the only save chance this week and converted it, in a game that Scott won. Kyle Hurt and Alex Vesia are the top setup options.

San Francisco’s bullpen is in a state of disarray, so much so that they decided to send would-be closer Ryan Walker to Triple-A. At this time, the closer is Caleb Kilian

If you have questions, please feel free to DM me on X/Twitter @mdrc0508, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Happy relief pitcher hunting this weekend!