MLB bullpen rankings: every team's BANG allowed

How the BANG bullpen rankings work

This page ranks all 30 MLB bullpens by BANG-allowed, our per-batter contact-quality score built from Statcast exit velocity, launch angle, and hit distance for every plate appearance a team’s relievers have allowed this season. High BANG-allowed means the bullpen gets hit hard, which maps to more runs and more home runs allowed. Low BANG-allowed means crisp innings and lockdown late-game work. Sort descending for the worst bullpens in MLB; flip ascending for the best bullpens in MLB.

How is bullpen BANG different from bullpen ERA?

Bullpen ERA measures how many runs a team’s relief corps gives up per nine innings. It’s a good measure of effectiveness but an imperfect one. A reliever can rack up ERA from walks and weak contact that strings together, or get bailed out by hard-hit balls that happen to find a glove (BABIP luck). Inherited runners hit the previous pitcher’s line regardless of who actually let them score. And a single bad outing in 12 innings can move the bullpen ERA needle for weeks while telling you nothing about the unit’s underlying performance.

BANG-allowed measures something narrower: how hard the contact actually was, every time a batter put the ball in play against the bullpen, across every reliever on the staff. It strips out walks, sequencing, and inherited-runner luck, and isolates the one thing the pitching unit controls most directly. Pair the two columns on the same row to spot bullpens that have been getting hit hard but escaping (high BANG-allowed, low ERA) and bullpens that have been keeping contact quiet but bleeding runs in unlucky bunches (low BANG-allowed, high ERA). Both are regression candidates in opposite directions.

Per-reliever splits and closer rankings

Click any team in the rankings table to open the per-reliever view. You’ll see BANG-allowed, OPS-against, AVG, HR allowed, K%, BB%, and platoon splits (vs L / vs R) for every reliever on the roster, relief outings only (starters spotted in relief are filtered out so you’re looking at true bullpen performance). Use this to identify closers and high-leverage relievers within each team, find platoon mismatches to target, and stream against specific bullpens with known weaknesses.

FAQ

Which MLB team has the worst bullpen this year?

The team at the top of the rankings table when sorted by BANG-allowed descending. That’s the bullpen giving up the hardest contact per batter faced. Pair it with the ERA column to confirm: high BANG-allowed and high ERA means the unit is both getting hit hard and giving up runs.

Why use BANG-allowed instead of just bullpen ERA?

ERA is the standard, but it’s noisy in small samples and luck-dependent. The BANG-allowed view isolates contact quality per batter faced, which is the underlying signal that ERA eventually catches up to. Use both lenses together for the full picture.

Does the page show closer rankings?

Yes. Click any team to open the per-reliever breakdown. Closers and other high-leverage arms show their individual BANG-allowed, K%, BB%, and platoon splits, so you can rank them within each team and across the league.

How often do the bullpen rankings update?

Daily, after the previous night’s games finalize in Statcast (usually around 5am ET).