"He needs to pitch in a higher league, if there is one. Ban him from baseball. He should be illegal."
—Tom Kelly, manager of Minnesota Twins, after his team faced Rivera in April 1996
In 1996, Rivera served primarily as a setup pitcher for closer John Wetteland, typically pitching in the seventh and eighth innings before Wetteland pitched in the ninth. Their effectiveness gave the Yankees a 70–3 win–loss record that season when leading after six innings, essentially shortening the games for their opponents by three innings. In twelve games between April 19 and May 21, Rivera pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings, including 15 consecutive hitless innings. In the regular season, Rivera finished with a 2.09 ERA in 107 2⁄3 innings pitched and set a Yankees single-season record for strikeouts by a reliever (130). In the postseason, he allowed just one earned run in 14 1⁄3 innings pitched,[30] helping the Yankees advance to and win the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves for the franchise's first World Series championship since 1978. He finished third in the voting for the American League (AL) Cy Young Award, given annually to the league's best pitcher based on voting by baseball writers.
Rivera impressed Yankees management enough that they chose not to re-sign Wetteland, who became a free agent in the offseason. They subsequently installed Rivera in the role of the Yankees' closer for the 1997 season to typically pitch the ninth innings of games. In April, MLB retired the uniform number 42 league-wide to honor Jackie Robinson, although Rivera was one of a dozen players allowed to continue wearing the number per a grandfather clause. Rivera's transition from setup man to closer was not seamless; he blew three of his first six save opportunities, and he indicated that he was initially uncomfortable in the role. Eventually, he settled into his new duties, earning his first All-Star selection, and recording 43 saves in 52 opportunities with a 1.88 ERA in the regular season. Rivera also added a cut fastball to his pitching repertoire after accidentally discovering how to throw the pitch. However, Rivera was not as successful in the postseason. In the 1997 American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians, he blew a save in Game 4 by allowing a game-tying home run to Sandy Alomar, Jr., with the Yankees four outs from advancing to the next round.The Yankees eventually lost that game and the next, eliminating them from the playoffs.
1998–2001
Members of the Yankees coaching staff were concerned that the disappointing end to the previous season would affect Rivera. However, he put any such concerns to rest in the following seasons, as he emerged as one of the best closers in the major leagues. Moreover, he became the centerpiece of a bullpen that contributed to the Yankees' late-1990s dynasty, with Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, and Ramiro Mendoza providing dependable middle relief. In 1998, Rivera saved 36 games in 41 opportunities and finished with a 1.91 ERA. His success was aided by the increased usage of his newly-discovered cutter, which quickly became his signature pitch and earned a reputation for breaking hitters' bats with its sharp lateral movement. In the 1998 postseason, he saved six games and pitched 13 1⁄3 scoreless innings,[30] and he clinched the Yankees' sweep of the San Diego Padres in the 1998 World Series, capping off a season in which the Yankees won an MLB-record 125 games between the regular season and the postseason. By season's end, he had allowed only two earned runs in 35 career postseason innings pitched—a 0.51 ERA—qualifying him for the major league record for lowest career postseason ERA; it is a record he still holds through 139 2⁄3 innings pitched.
In 1999, Rivera was voted onto the All-Star team with 23 saves and a 2.29 ERA in the first half. That summer, the Yankee Stadium scoreboard production staff began playing the song "Enter Sandman" by heavy metal band Metallica as Rivera's entrance music. Staff members selected the song after witnessing in the previous year's World Series how enthusiastically San Diego fans reacted to closer Trevor Hoffman entering games accompanied by AC/DC's "Hells Bells". Although Rivera was indifferent about his entrance music, "Enter Sandman" soon became as much a part of his identity as closer as his cutter did. Despite struggling in July with three blown saves and a 7.84 ERA, he ended the regular season on a hot streak, allowing just one earned run over his last 30 appearances. He finished with a 1.83 ERA and an MLB-leading 45 saves in 49 opportunities, earning him his first AL Rolaids Relief Man Award, an annual award for the league's best closer based on their statistics. He was also given the World Series MVP Award for recording two saves and a win against the Braves in the 1999 World Series, in which he closed out the Yankees' championship title, and his third. He finished 1999 by pitching 43 consecutive scoreless innings across the regular season and postseason, and he placed third in voting for the AL Cy Young Award. After the season, he revealed tentative plans to retire and become a minister after playing four more seasons, though he backed off these plans the following year.
In the offseason, Rivera lost his arbitration case, in which he requested an annual salary of $9.25 million, but the $7.25 million salary that the arbitrators awarded him instead set a baseball record for the highest arbitration award. In the 2000 season, Rivera was again selected as an All-Star, and he ended the season with 36 saves in 41 opportunities and a 2.85 ERA. In the postseason, he saved six games and allowed three earned runs in 15 2⁄3 innings pitched. He also set a new record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in the postseason, a streak that ended shortly after at 34 1⁄3 innings. In the 2000 World Series against the New York Mets, he clinched a championship for his team for the third consecutive year. It was his fourth World Series title overall. By this point, Rivera had established a reputation as an exceptional postseason performer—journalist Jack Curry called him the "infallible weapon" and "the greatest reason the Yankees [were] three-time champions".
Prior to the 2001 season, with one year left on his contract, Rivera signed his first long-term deal, agreeing to a four-year, $39.99 million contract. That season, he was voted onto the All-Star team for a third consecutive year. He finished the season with a 2.34 ERA, a closer career-high 80 2⁄3 innings pitched, and an MLB-leading 50 saves in 57 opportunities—the second time he led the Majors in saves. This earned him his second AL Rolaids Relief Man Award. Despite his stellar track record and what sportswriters deemed an "aura of invincibility" in the postseason, Rivera failed to close out the decisive Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In one of his most infamous moments, he blew a save in the bottom of the ninth inning, in part due to his own throwing error, and he lost the Series later in the inning by allowing Luis Gonzalez's bloop single with the bases loaded to score the winning run. It is the only loss in Rivera's postseason career, and it snapped his record streak of 23 consecutive postseason saves converted.
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