Mason Miller's 2026 Season Was Even More Historically Dominant Than Padres Fans Realize

[Yirsandy Rodríguez]

At the moment when the San Diego Padres needed Mason Miller’s dominance the most, his fastball could not prevail against Jackson Chourio, who ended up hitting a walk-off single to decide Game 2 of the NLDS and give the Milwaukee Brewers a 2-0 lead.

Welcome to baseball, folks.

All great relievers have had good and bad moments, but there are situations when you simply need nothing to go wrong. Miller could not get it done. We know he was not the only reason the Padres lost the series in four games, but his performance left a bitter taste in an elimination that once again ended earlier than expected.

Still, including the postseason, Miller had not allowed an earned run in 80 of his 90 appearances with the Padres prior to that defeat against the Brewers. During that period, he recorded a 1.41 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP, a .136 batting average against, and 17.06 strikeouts per nine innings. In addition, he had not allowed a hit in 56 of his 90 appearances, had struck out two or more batters in 63 of them, and at least one in 83.

That’s why, although Miller could not live up to his reputation in the crucial moment of Game 2 against Milwaukee, that does not take away from the credit he deserves for his impressive impact throughout the year, completing one of the best seasons by a pitcher in the history of the game. Miller has recorded 88 saves in 98 opportunities over his career, converting them at an 89.8% rate. Through his first 98 save opportunities in the major leagues, his 88 saves represented the seventh-highest total of all time, while his 89.8% conversion rate ranks eighth historically.

Miller closed out 53 of the Padres’ 91 wins this season and did not allow an earned run in 57 of his 66 appearances. San Diego went 56-10 in games in which he pitched. Since his acquisition at the 2025 trade deadline, the Padres have gone 73-15 in his 88 regular-season appearances and 74-16 when including the postseason games in which he has pitched. According to Baseball Savant, this season he ranked in the 100th percentile in the major leagues in expected ERA (xERA) at 1.70, expected batting average (xBA) at .138, whiff rate at 45.3%, average fastball velocity at 101.4 mph, and strikeout rate at 47.4%.

His four-seam fastball finished in the 94th percentile for run value, and his overpowering slider finished in the 98th percentile. His evolution since pitching for the Athletics in 2023 has been sensational.

Velocity is undoubtedly one of the most revealing factors behind Miller’s dominance and one of the reasons he can devour hitters. However, his slider is the lethal weapon when it comes to overpowering opponents. He threw it 49.7% of the time, just above his four-seam fastball (48.3%), and the results were extraordinary. Hitters batted just .132 against that pitch, even with better results than its .086 xBA suggested. Miller allowed only two extra-base hits—a double and a home run—while striking out 83 of the 139 batters he faced. His whiff rate was 56.3%, 19.8 percentage points higher than his fastball’s, and his 59.7% strikeout rate was the highest among all pitch types during the 2026 season.

Miller finished by striking out 76 of the 116 batters who completed a plate appearance against his slider, which is just absurd. He also established an Expansion Era record (since 1961) by not allowing any extra-base hits during a streak that spanned 58 appearances and 61 innings pitched, from August 6, 2025, through July 12, 2026. He surpassed the previous marks set by Alan Embree, who did it over 47 appearances in 1997-1998, and Luis Aquino, whose streak covered 56 innings between August 1988 and June 1989.

Another legendary moment of his season came when he established the longest streak of consecutive scoreless innings in San Diego franchise history: 34⅔ innings between August 6, 2025, and April 25, 2026. He surpassed the previous record of 33⅔ innings set by Cla Meredith between July and September 2006. Including the 2025 postseason, Miller’s streak reached 37⅓ consecutive scoreless innings during his streak; during that window, opposing hitters collected just seven hits in the regular season, all singles, in 107 at-bats against Miller. Among the 353 pitchers who faced at least 100 batters from the beginning of his streak, he ranked first in batting average allowed (.065), slugging percentage allowed (.065), and strikeouts per nine innings (17.91). The gap between him and the pitchers who ranked second in those categories was wide, to say the least.

His 34⅔ consecutive scoreless innings during the regular season represented the longest streak by any pitcher, starter or reliever, in the major leagues since Zac Gallen’s 44⅓ innings between August 8 and September 11, 2022. It was also the longest streak by a reliever since Josh Hader’s 38 innings between August 1, 2021, and June 5, 2022. Since the beginning of the Expansion Era in 1961, it was the eighth-longest streak of consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever. J.C. Romero ranks seventh with 36 innings in 2004, while the longest streak belongs to Gregg Olson, with 41 innings between 1989 and 1990.

Miller was also the first pitcher since 1961 to record a streak of 34 consecutive scoreless innings while striking out at least 70 batters, as well as the first to complete a streak of 34 scoreless innings while allowing fewer than 10 hits. His 69 innings pitched this season established a new career high, surpassing the 65.0 innings he pitched in 2024 with the Athletics. He converted all 25 of his save opportunities in the first half of the season and was the only reliever with a 100.0% save conversion rate before the 2026 All-Star Game (minimum of 20 saves). With that achievement, he joined the legendary Trevor Hoffman, who did it in 1998, as one of only two San Diego closers to convert their first 25 save opportunities before the All-Star Game.

Miller’s career-high 38 saves in 41 opportunities left him tied for first place in the National League with St. Louis’ Riley O’Brien and tied for third in the major leagues, behind Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and Cleveland’s Cade Smith, both with 41.

In other words, Mason Miller is even better than his reputation suggests.

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