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Here are the fantasy baseball rankings for the top ten closers for the 2008 season. I will also list the predictions from the pre-season at the bottom of this post for comparison.

1. Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles Angels - Set a Major league record with 62 saves, but saw his strikeouts drop by 15%, his WHIP go up and his batting average against go up. Fantasy owners couldn’t have cared less. 2 Wins | 62 Saves | 77 K’s | 2.24 ERA | 1.29 WHIP
2. Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals - A Kansas City closer making this list??? Who would have thunk it??? Soria was dominant from day one. You could even argue that Soria was more dominant than Rodriguez. 2 Wins | 42 Saves | 66 K’s | 1.60 ERA | 0.86 WHIP
3. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies - Lidge has re-emerged as a top notch closer. 2 Wins | 41 Saves | 92 K’s | 1.95 ERA | 1.23 WHIP
4. Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins - With the departure of Johan Santana many thought that Nathan’s save total would drop. It didn’t. 1 Win | 39 Saves | 74 K’s | 1.33 ERA | 0.90 WHIP
5. Mariano “Not Juan” Rivera, New York Yankees - Rivera isn’t the elite closer he used to be, but he’s still extremely good. Those six wins are nice too. Especially since he only blew one save. 6 Wins | 39 Saves | 77 K’s | 1.40 ERA | 0.67 WHIP
6. Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox - Papelbon brought his save total up and really boosted his strikeout to walk ratio (5.60 in 2007 to 9.625 (77:8) in 2008). But his ERA also went up as did his number of blown saves. 5 Wins | 41 Saves | 77 K’s | 2.34 ERA | 0.95 WHIP
7. Jose Valverde, Houston Astros - Valverde ranks second on the saves list, but his ERA hurt his fantasy value some. he also had seven blown saves. 6 Wins | 44 Saves | 83 K’s | 3.37 ERA | 1.83 WHIP
8. Kerry Wood, Chicago Cubs - The smooth transition to the closer role was exactly what the Cubs needed. Now for Wood to become an elite closer his ERA will need to come down a bit. 5 Wins | 34 Saves | 84 K’s | 3.26 ERA | 1.09 WHIP
9. Francisco Cordero, Cincinnati Reds - Cordero has the the second highest WHIP of anyone on this list and his ERA isn’t one of an elite closer. But, he’s getting it done most of the time, and that was good enough for #9 here. 5 Wins | 34 Saves | 78 K’s | 3.33 ERA | 1.41 WHIP
10. B.J. Ryan, Toronto Blue Jays - He’s not nearly the pitcher he was before Tommy John surgery, but he’s no slouch either. 2 Wins | 32 Saves | 58 K’s | 2.95 ERA | 1.28 WHIP

2008 American League Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings (Pre-Season)

1. Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Sox
2. Joe Nathan | Minnesota Twins
3. J.J. Putz | Seattle Mariners
4. Francisco Rodriguez | Los Angeles Angels
5. Bobby Jenks | Chicago White Sox
6. Mariano Rivera | New York Yankees
7. Huston Street | Oakland Athletics
8. Joakim Soria | Kansas City Royals
9. Todd Jones | Detroit Tigers
10. Troy Percival | Tampa Bay Rays
11. Joe Borowski | Cleveland Indians
12. C.J. Wilson | Texas Rangers
13. Jeremy Accardo | Toronto Blue Jays
14. Jamie Walker | Baltimore Orioles

2008 National League Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings (Pre-Season)

1. Takashi Saito | Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Jose Valverde | Houston Astros
3. Francisco Cordero | Cincinnati Reds
4. Billy Wagner | New York Mets
5. Trevor Hoffman | San Diego Padres
6. Chad Cordero | Washington Nationals
7. Manuel Corpas | Colorado Rockies
8. Jason Isringhausen | St. Louis Cardinals
9. Brad Lidge | Philadelphia Phillies
10. Rafael Soriano | Atlanta Braves
11. Brandon Lyon | Arizona Diamonbacks
12. Kevin Gregg | Florida Marlins
13. Kerry Wood | Chicago Cubs
14. Eric Gagne | Milwaukee Brewers
15. Brian Wilson | San Francisco Giants
16. Matt Capps | Pittsburgh Pirates

Week six saw the two leagues compete well against each other as the NL just edged out the AL 5-3 in awards. We also have a couple of repeat winners poking their heads back onto this list.

Catcher: Chris Iannetta | Colorado Rockies - Iannetta has been spending most of the 2008 fantasy baseball season as the backup catcher in Colorado, but last week saw considerable playing time. In 19 at-bats he averaged .368/.400/.737 with 2 runs scored, one home run and 7 RBI.

First Base: Kevin Youkilis | Boston Red Sox - This was an incredibly tough decision as Lance Berkman also had an incredibly strong week. Youk’s slash stats were lower than Berkman’s as he batted .375/.394/.937, but his roto numbers were a bit higher with 8 runs scored, 5 home runs, 10 RBI, and one stolen base.

Second Base: Dan Uggla | Florida Marlins - Uggla scored 8 runs, hit 4 home runs, and knocked in eight while averaging .350/.440/.1.000. Ian Kinsler was in consideration for a quick second, but his power numbers paled in comparison to Uggla’s.

Third Base: Mike Lowell | Boston Red Sox - Lowell joins fellow Sox IF mate to win this week’s MVP award. He edged out Blake DeWitt by scoring 9 runs, hitting 3 home runs, and driving in 9. Lowell also averaged .406 ( a rather important number in Red Sox history), /.429/.781.

Shortstop: Eric Bruntlett | Philadelphia Phillies - Bruntlett had great numbers as he enjoyed his last week of filling in for Jimmy Rollins. Bruntlett scored 4 times, hit one home run, drove in 8, and stole one base. He also averaged .368/.429/.737 as he edged out Hanley Ramirez mainly due to Ramirez having a lower slugging percentage than on-base percentage.

Outfield: Ryan Ludwick | St. Louis Cardinals - Ludwickhad a very nice power week as he scored 5 times, hit 4 home runs, drove in 9 and averaged .478/.480/1.130.

Starting Pitcher: James Shields | Tampa Bay Rays - Shields has one monster great start this past week, as he would have had to to edge out some of the two-start pitchers. Shields pitched a complete game, one hit shutout against the Angels. He struck out eight while walking none and had a perfect 0.00 ERA and a 0.11 WHIP.

Relief Pitcher: Kerry Wood | Chicago Cubs - Wood is finally pitching like the stud closer the Cubs had hoped for when they selected him over Carlos Marmol during Spring Training. Last week, Wood recorded three saves while only giving up one hit in 4.0 innings of work. He had a 4:0 strikeout to walk ratio and had a 0.00 ERA and a 0.25 WHIP.