Which Team in the NL Central Has the Best Closer for 2025?

In 2025, the National League Central is poised to become one of the best divisions in baseball for starting pitching talent. The same could be said for the top closers in the division, but after many of them faced struggles in 2024, this isn’t as certain as it once appeared.

For starters, this past offseason saw the departure of Devin Williams from the division, a former NL Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star. Also, another two-time All-Star, David Bednar, saw his ERA balloon to over 5.50, finishing the year far worse than any recent season.

Despite this, the division still does possess a lot of relief pitching talent. MLB’s saves leader in 2024, Ryan Helsley, is the best reliever in the division. A newcomer also joins him in the division, Ryan Pressly, as he lands in the NL Central after being dealt to the Cubs in the offseason.

Without further ado, let’s dive into each team’s top reliever for the 2025 season.

5. Milwaukee Brewers: Trevor Megill

2024 Stats: 48 G, 46.1 IP, 2.72 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, .200 BAA, 3.10 FIP, 9.7 K/9, 2.7 BB/9

Now that the Brewers have moved on from their former All-Star closer Devin Williams, they need to find a new player to take on the closer role.

After a great 2024 season, it appears this player will be Trevor Megill.

Megill, a four-year MLB veteran, has seen his fair share of ups and downs throughout his career. Before landing in Milwaukee, he had a career ERA+ of just 67 and struggled to pitch reliable innings.

But, in his two years with the Brewers, Megill has come into his own and made a name for himself in their bullpen.

Last year, he pitched in 48 games for the club, recording a career-best 155 ERA+, striking out 50 batters, and showcasing a truly elite arsenal.

Although Megill is a two-pitch pitcher, he makes the absolute most out of his arsenal. He dials his fastball up into the high 90s while getting decent carry on the pitch as well.

His knuckle curve is also a very solid pitch, as it recorded a whiff rate of 55%, producing an xwOBA of .187 in the process.

Williams’ departure also leaves the Brewers bullpen without a true superstar closer for the first time in a very long time, but the bullpen is still projected to be extremely solid outside of Megill.

According to FanGraphs’ projections, the Brewers are only projected to have one reliever post an ERA in the fours. Joel Payamps, Elvis Peguero, and Jared Koenig are some of the other bright spots in the bullpen, as they’ve all displayed promising skill sets on the mound.

Although he’s projected to perform very well in 2025, it’s hard to put Megill over some of the players above him due to his lack of experience. Every arm above him has made at least one All-Star game, making it harder for him to slide up this list.

In his 2024 campaign, Megill showcased a lot of promise as to what he could look like as the Brewers full-time closer. If all goes to plan in 2025, be ready for him to become a household name by the end of the season.

4. Cincinnati Reds: Alexis Diaz, RHP

2024 Stats: 60 G, 56.1 IP, 3.99 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, .206 BAA, 4.57 FIP, 8.8 K/9, 5.0 BB/9

The Cincinnati Reds have quietly been putting together a very dangerous young team, and the success of their top reliever, Alexis Diaz, will be imperative to their success.

Last season, Alexis Diaz took a step back from the year prior, but he was still very solid. In 60 appearances, he pitched to a 3.99 ERA, 111 ERA+, and a 1.29 WHIP, all while also saving 28 games for the Reds.

Despite a solid 2024 campaign, he did have a far better 2023 season. During the season prior, Diaz earned his first All-Star appearance and pitched to an ERA of just over 3.00, all while saving nearly 40 games. Diaz got more whiffs and strikeouts as well, with both of these numbers taking a step back.

Diaz allowed more hard contact last season than he did in 2023, with his barrel rate worsening, while he also saw a spike in home runs.

The Reds enter the 2025 season with a pretty interesting bullpen, led by a few key arms outside of Diaz. Offseason acquisitions Taylor Rogers and Scott Barlow are both projected to throw good innings for the team, giving them some more depth.

Outside of these three arms, though, it’s a lot harder to find much competition to rival Diaz’s spot atop the Reds’ bullpen.

Similarly to the reliever above him, David Bednar, Diaz also went through a tougher season in 2024. This makes the two of them relatively interchangeable on this list, but Bednar still earns a slight edge due to his peaks being better than Diaz’s.

However, Diaz is still just 28 years old, and this is the first real bump in the road we’ve seen in his career. If he can get things back on track once again in 2025, we may be talking about Diaz as one of the game’s best closers again in no time.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates: David Bednar, RHP

2024 Stats: 62 G, 57.2 IP, 5.77 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, .238 BAA, 4.80 FIP, 9.1 K/9, 4.4 BB/9

Coming into the 2024 season, many fans had high hopes that the Pittsburgh Pirates would have one of the top bullpens in baseball, with two-time All-Star David Bednar leading the way.

However, this was not the case, as Bednar’s 2024 season provided disastrous results.

Just two seasons ago, Bednar finished second in baseball in saves while posting a tremendous 224 ERA+. In 2025, Bednar was far from the same pitcher. Bednar’s ERA jumped from 2.00 to 5.77, with his game declining in every single way.

Bednar blew 7 saves, while his FIP, WHIP, H/9, HR/9, BB/9, and K/9 all worsened. Back in September, former MLB veteran righty Trevor May also published a YouTube video, explaining Bednar had been tipping his pitches and being very predictable to hitters.

Despite this, Bednar has still had a very successful career to this point. He’s a two-time All-Star, and hopefully, one bump in the road won’t lead to more damage in the future.

Bednar is the face of a Pirates bullpen that struggled mightily throughout the 2024 season. Bednar is joined by Colin Holderman, Caleb Ferguson Tim Mayza, and a few other arms with potential upside in the bullpen.

The main name that sticks out to me as someone with a chance to rival Bednar’s spot as the team’s best reliever is Colin Holderman. Although he tapered off at the end of the 2024 season, he was elite in the first half, pitching to a 1.77 ERA.

Due to Bednar’s struggles in 2024, he comes on this list at number three overall. Both Pressly and Helsley were far more consistent in 2024 and project to do the same in 2025.

If the Pirates want any chance at contending, they’ll need to rely on the bounceback of their number-one reliever, David Bednar.

2. Chicago Cubs: Ryan Pressly, RHP

2024 Stats: 59 G, 56.2 IP, 3.49 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, .264 BAA, 3.10 FIP, 9.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9

The Chicago Cubs have a new face as their top reliever in 2025, with two-time All-Star Ryan Pressly taking over the closer role in the Windy City.

Pressly landed in Chicago after he waived his no-trade clause to join the club this past offseason, and his impact will be felt immediately. Pressly had spent six and a half years with the Astros, manning the closer role for almost all of these seasons.

However, after the team inked Josh Hader to a record-setting contract, his role was put in question. He spent the 2024 season mainly as the team’s setup man, recording just four saves. This was the first season since 2021 where Pressly hadn’t recorded 30 or more saves, making it the lowest total he’d recorded since 2019.

Despite being the team’s setup man, Pressly still finished with pretty solid numbers across the board. His ERA returned to under 3.50 after rising a little the season before, with his FIP finishing better than it had in 2023.

He also still recorded a solid chase rate, finishing the season with it ranking inside the 80th percentile.

The Cubs’ bullpen is currently projected to have just one player post an ERA above 4.00 in 2025, a step forward from their 2024 bullpen. Ryan Brasier is arguably the most interesting of these arms, as he was surprisingly DFA’d and traded to the Cubs from the Dodgers after a great season.

Brasier threw to a 3.54 ERA with a WHIP under 1 during the 2024 campaign, and he’s projected to follow this up with another ERA around 3.60.

Ryan Pressly is truly one of the better relievers in baseball, but he sits on this list at the number two spot due to MLB’s saves leader, Ryan Pressly, taking the NL Central crown without much trouble.

Now, in a closer role once again, it’ll be exciting to see if he can return to the version of himself that finished with 30 saves just two years ago.

1. St. Louis Cardinals: Ryan Helsley, RHP

2024 Stats: 65 G, 66.1 IP, 2.04 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, .210 BAA, 2.41 FIP, 10.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9

The 2024 season was filled with amazing seasons from relievers, and one of the better seasons came off the back of Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley.

To put it simply, Helsley dominated opposing pitchers for the entire 2024 campaign. Helsley finished the season leading baseball in saves, with his 49 saves beating out Emmanuel Clase, the game’s top closer. Helsley was also one of just seven relievers to record over 2 fWAR, which is very impressive for a reliever.

Helsley finished 16th among all qualified relievers in ERA, being one of just three NL Central relievers to finish inside this range last season. He also earned an All-Star nod this season, alongside a ninth-place finish in the Cy Young voting.

Helsley ranked inside the 90th percentile or better in xERA, fastball velocity, chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and barrel rate. Virtually the only place he struggles? He tends to get a little walk-heavy at times, as his walk rate of 8.6% placed him in MLB’s 40th percentile.

Since Helsley is arguably one of the top closers in all of baseball, it’s hard to imagine any other arm rivaling his spot as the team’s top relief option. However, they have a few other talented arms up their sleeve.

Former top prospect Matthew Liberatore has slowly improved as his career has gone on, and FanGraphs projects him to record a 3.97 ERA in 85 relief innings.

Jojo Romero is also projected to have a great season, finishing with an ERA around 3.50 if all goes to plan.

With the combination of Helsley, Romero, Liberatore, and other solid arms in the Cardinals’ bullpen, they could put together a dangerous group of relief options by the end of 2025.

Helsley will enter the 2025 season just 16 saves away from his 100th career save, and he should get there with ease. Baseball fans all across the game cannot wait to see Helsley blow hitters away once again this summer.

Conclusion

After taking a look at some of the NL Central’s top relievers, it’s become clearer than ever how much pitching talent this division possesses. From the top young starters in the league to some of the game’s best closers, hitters in the NL Central never get an easy at-bat.

As we head into the 2025 season, be on the lookout for all five of these fireballers to continue shutting down opposing hitters, while helping their teams win games in the process.