High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In baseball, a save (abbreviated SV or S or "SVO" for a save opportunity) is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain prescribed circumstances. The number of saves, or percentage of save opportunities successfully converted, is an oft-cited statistic of relief pitchers, particularly those in the closer role. It became an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic in 1969.Mariano Rivera is MLB`s all-time leader in regular season saves with 608.