Two members of the Cleveland Guardians will be competing for end-of-the-season awards this month.
After taking the Guards to the AL Championship Series, rookie skipper Stephen Vogt became one of the finalists for the Manager of the Year award, together with two fellow AL Central guys: A.J. Hinch of the Detroit Tigers and Matt Quatraro of the Kansas City Royals.
The AL Cy Young will be decided between Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal, Royals’ right-hander Seth Lugo, and Guardians star closer Emmanuel Clase.
Clase is a reliever, which makes his appearance in the list of finalists shocking.
Still, he was so good in 2024 that it was hard to overlook what he did.
In fact, he is the first player of his position to be named finalist in 16 years.
“Emmanuel Clase is the first reliever since Francisco Rodríguez in 2008 to be a Top 3 finalist for the Cy Young Award,” MLB Network posted on X.
Emmanuel Clase is the first reliever since Francisco Rodríguez in 2008 to be a Top 3 finalist for the Cy Young Award.@CleGuardians pic.twitter.com/AOSrTKmmRV
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 12, 2024
Rodriguez established the single-season record for saves with 62 that year, and his ERA was a rock-solid 2.24.
He ended up losing the award to Cliff Lee.
Skubal won the pitching Triple Crown in the junior circuit this year, which makes him the favorite for the AL Cy Young.
There is a very good chance Clase, who posted a historically low 0.61 ERA and 47 saves, finishes second.
He could have won the award in any other year, though, but it’s hard to top a Triple Crown.
Still, the Guardians closer was the single most dominant reliever in baseball this year and it wasn’t particularly close.
NEXT: Guardians Reporter Highlights Shocking Award Snub
