The Athletic's Jayson Stark took a deep dive into the Hall of Fame chances for a couple modern day closers with Billy Wagner receiving enshrinement this year.

In electing Wagner, the BBWAA has defined the modern-day closer as its own entity, with candidates’ credentials measured not against the whole of the body but against this specific peer group.

To gain entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Billy Wagner completed a climb few candidates have managed. Wagner, the former Houston Astros closer, attained the 75% support from voters required for election in his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot.

Billy Wagner received 82.5 percent of the tally from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, after he missed by just five votes last year.

Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?

After falling five votes short of Baseball Hall of Fame last year, Billy Wagner is hopeful on his final year on ballot.

In his 10th and final year on the ballot, former Astros closer Billy Wagner earned is place in Cooperstown, N.Y. in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Not the 82.5% of HOF voters who decided that Billy Wagner deserves a spot amongst ... ranking alongside Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman in every closer category between 1996 to 2010.

Did Billy Wagner's election just kick open the door for Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel (and possibly Aroldis Chapman, too)?

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Ichiro Suzuki falling one vote short of unanimous election raised eyebrows, but it’s far from the biggest flub in Hall of Fame voting history.

The identity of the writer has not been revealed and may never be. BBWAA members who vote for the Hall of Fame have to be in the association for 10 years. They have the option of making their ballots public. The public ballots for this election will be released by the Hall of Fame on Feb. 4.