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Cleveland Guardians Bullpen Joins Extremely Rare History in 2024 Season

The bullpen, anchored by Emmanuel Clase, was part of historic lore during this division-winning 2024 season.

Brady Farkas

Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) celebrates after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Sept 2.
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) celebrates after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Sept 2. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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The Cleveland Guardians bullpen joined some incredible baseball history during the 2024 season.

Anchored by closer Emmanuel Clase, the unit posted absurd numbers up and down the pen.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

lowest bullpen ERA in a season, Wild Card era:

2003 Dodgers: 2.46
2013 Braves: 2.46
2013 Royals: 2.55
2024 Guardians: 2.57

What's even more impressive is that Cleveland did this without Trevor Stephan, who was out for the year with Tommy John surgery. Furthermore, James Karinchak, another big piece to the pen, didn't pitch at all either.

As for Clase, he is likely to get some serious consideration for the American League Cy Young Award, even as a reliever. The 26-year-old native of the Dominican Republic went 4-2 with a microscopic 0.61 ERA. He appeared in 74 games, saving 47. His 47 saves led all of baseball for the third year in a row and were his career-high.

Lifetime, Clase is 16-23 with a 1.67 ERA. He's spent parts of five years in the big leagues with the Texas Rangers and Guardians.

In addition to Clase, Cade Smith had a 1.91 ERA in 74 games while Hunter Gaddis had a 1.57 ERA in 78 games. Furthermore, Tim Herrin had a 1.92 ERA in 75 games.

The Guardians won the American League Central in the first season under new manager Stephen Vogt. They finished as the No. 2 seed in the American League playoff picture and will have a first-round bye in the wild card round.

They will play either the Detroit Tigers or Houston Astros in the ALDS.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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