Cleveland Baseball Insider

Guardians Closer Named Finalist For American League Cy Young Award

Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians was nominated as a 2024 Cy Young Award finalist.

Tommy Wild

Aug 28, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Aug 28, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
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The Cleveland Guardians bullpen was easily the best in all of baseball during the 2024 regular season. Leading the way for the reliever group was Emmanuel Clase who put together one of the most dominant seasons from a close in recent memory.

Clase's historic season caught the eyes of those across the sport, and he was named a finalist for the 2024 American League Cy Young Award on Monday evening.

Clase finished the regular season with a 0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 2.23 FIP, and 674 ERA+. He also led the AL in saves for the third straight season with 47.

Even if Clase doesn't win Cy Young, it's still a massive accomplishment for him to be even named a finalist. A reliever is rarely even in consideration for the award, and the last pitcher out of the bullpen to be named a Cy Young finalist was Francisco Rodriguez in 2008.

The last reliever to actually win AL Cy Young member to win was Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland Athletics in 1992.

Just like the American Lague Manager of the Year nominees, all of the Cy Young finalists have come from inside the AL Central division. The other finalists are Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals.

Emmanuel Clase celebrates after a win
Jul 28, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) celebrates win against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

It will be interesting to see how the voters compare Clase to Lugo and Skubal, each having different roles on the mound. Still, Clase deserves to be considered for the award.

Yes, Clase did struggle in the postseason. However, it's important to remember that this is a regular-season accolade, and the playoffs have nothing to do with the voting.

The winner of the Cy Young will be announced next Wednesday, November 20.

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Tommy Wild
TOMMY WILD

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