It’s increasingly hard to rank relief pitchers in fantasy baseball because there’s a lot of volatility from one year to another. It’s hard to find relievers who can be consistent on a year-to-year basis, but there are some options who feel like safe bets based on their recent output.
We’ve made a full analysis to deliver our top ranking of the 10 best relief pitchers ahead of the 2026 fantasy baseball season.
2026 Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings
1) Mason Miller | San Diego Padres
Regardless of how volatile relief pitchers can be, there’s no question that Miller embodies the word “consistency” extremely well. He’s already been named the closer for the Padres ahead of the 2026 campaign, and that was to be expected following his impressive debut with his new club in 2025.
After being acquired from the Athletics last July in a stunning deadline deal, Miller turned in a 0.77 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and 45 strikeouts to go along with two saves in 23.1 innings to close out the Padres’ regular season. Miller has gone 50-for-57 in save chances in his two full seasons as a reliever while posting an ERA under 2.65 and a WHIP below 0.95 both times.
Simply put, he’s the best reliever in the game, and he fully deserves to enter the 2026 fantasy season as the best RP as well. He should have plenty of save opportunities while playing for a Padres team expected to compete in the NL West.
2) Edwin Diaz | Los Angeles Dodgers
3) Cade Smith | Cleveland Guardians
4) Jhoan Duran | Philadelphia Phillies
5) Andres Munoz | Seattle Mariners
Munoz has an enormous advantage to his name, as he’ll pitch half of his games at T-Mobile Park, which is a dream scenario for hurlers. However, he also performed at a high level when pitching on the road, and he should be in line to close regularly for the Mariners after a 2025 campaign in which he saved 38 regular-season games while posting a 1.73 ERA and 83:28 K:BB over 62.1 innings.
Munoz has been a full-time reliever in his six years in the majors, and he’s recorded 20-plus saves in the last two campaigns. Plus, he’s delivered an ERA below 3.00 and a WHIP under 1.30 in each of his last four seasons. Look for the 27-year-old righty to be one of the first closers taken off the board in most drafts.
6) David Bednar | New York Yankees
7) Aroldis Chapman | Boston Red Sox
8) Devin Williams | New York Mets
9) Raisel Iglesias | Atlanta Braves
10) Josh Hader | Houston Astros
Chapman was an elite closer in 2025, and that’s a true statement of how durable and productive he’s been throughout his career. Even though Chapman hasn’t been a top-five reliever in every season of his 16-year career, the fact that he posted a 1.17 ERA with a 0.70 WHIP across 67 regular-season appearances in 2025 was eye-popping.
There’s going to be some inevitable regression for him because seeing him deliver another sub-1.20 ERA campaign at age 38 looks highly unlikely. But even if his numbers regress a bit, he should still be good for around 25 to 30 saves, an ERA around the 2.50 mark, and a WHIP around the 1.20 or 1.30 range.
Those would be excellent numbers for a reliever approaching his 40s, and with Chapman having locked the closer gig for 2026 already, he’s going to have plenty of opportunities to remain productive while pitching for a contending team in the AL East, one of the most competitive divisions in all of baseball.
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