Tuesday Discussion: Your Closer "Walk-Out" Song

June 9, 2026

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This week we asked our writers to share what their "walk-out" song would be if they were an MLB closer.

Here are their replies...

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Paul Semendinger - Eye of the Tiger (or Gonna Fly Now)

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Ethan Semendinger - Numb/Encore (Linkin Park & Jay-Z)

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Cary Greene - My walkout song would be very loud Scottish bagpipes and drums - the kind of booming, deep drums and energy that real pipes & drums outfits like the Daytona Beach Pipes & Drums perform with. I'd be so psyched up that my velo would bump up into the high forties - it would be very intimidating. I do have one question though, would I be pitching on old timer's day? Or perhaps to little leaguers? If I were to be facing actual MLB batters, they'd get a steady diet of my Tommy John style sinker - it sits in the mid thirties with lots of bite and it even has a little sweep to it. 

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Derek McAdam - For me, it would be “Carini” by Phish. That song is very hard rock that I think would draw the fans to their feet and get them pumped up for the save appearance. If anyone knows anything about Phish, it would definitely have to be a live version. 

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John Nielsen - If I were a Major League Baseball closer jogging in from the bullpen, my walk-out song would be Billy Joel’s “Pressure.” To me, Joel is the quintessential New Yorker. Much like Sinatra before him, his music captures the grit, swagger, and edge that feel perfectly suited to a Yankees closer entering a high-stakes moment.

The song’s driving rhythm immediately creates an intimidation factor for the hitter stepping into the box. More importantly, though, the lyrics mirror the reality of the closer’s role better than almost any song imaginable:

“Don’t ask for help, you’re all alone

(Pressure)

You’ll have to answer to your own

(Pressure)

I’m sure you have some cosmic rationale

Well, here you are, in the ninth

Two men out and three men on

Nowhere to look, but inside

Where we all respond to pressure.”

That is the closer’s world in a nutshell. No safety net. No excuses. The game rests entirely on your shoulders, with 40,000 fans holding their breath and the tying run ninety feet away. In that moment, “Pressure” feels less like a jingle and more like an anthem for the job itself.

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Tim Kabel - If I were a closer, my walkout music would be “Time To Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli. 

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Mike Whiteman - My bullpen "walk out" song would be REM's "Its The End of the World As We Know It" because if a manager is motioning to me and my 50 mph fastball, it's getting pretty desperate. 

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Andy Singer - There are so many songs to choose from! Fun anecdote: I played on a team where multiple guys were actually DJs for events and clubs, so we would have a large sound system adjacent to to the bench at every game pumping music during warmups, between innings, and as pitchers entered, so I've had plenty of time to think about this!

It all really depends on my shifting tastes, as I like a really wide array of music. However, I figured out pretty quickly that when pitching as a reliever, I needed to come out with my hair on fire, so to speak, so metal and hard rock were almost always the go-to.

For a long time, I liked "We Will Rock You," by Queen.

Then, it was the opening of "Can't Stop," by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (watch clips of Vladimir Klitschko enter the ring sometime).

I also went through a death metal phase that rotated with some frequency.

Now? I think that one pitcher has the coolest entrance in the Majors: Mason Miller, entering to "Blind," by Korn. I used multiple songs by Korn over the years; I'd probably go with something off of the same album that Miller is using.