The Cleveland Guardians find themselves right in the thick of the postseason chase with less than 48 hours to go until the trade deadline.
After taking two out of three against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, the Guardians are now just one game out of first place in the AL Central and a game-and-a-half back in the Wild Card race.
A big reason for that has been the dominance of their All-Star closer, Emmanuel Clase.
Over the past two months, he has been virtually unhittable.
Guardians insider Zack Meisel tweeted some of his stats over the past two months, which show just how dominant he can be.
Emmanuel Clase over the last two months:
29 innings, 12 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 31 strikeouts
That's a 0.31 ERA. He's converted all 16 of his save chances, too.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) July 31, 2022
Simply Unhittable
Clase has been a beast at the back end of the Guardians bullpen all year.
For the season, Clase has a 1.25 ERA in 45 appearances and has converted 23 of his 25 save opportunities.
That isn’t easy to do, but when a team has a fireballer at the back end of their bullpen, good things are bound to happen.
Clase certainly earned his All-Star nod this year and put his skills on full display when he got the save in that game.
But he has been a godsend for the Guardians ever since he came over from the Texas Rangers in the Corey Kluber deal.
He, much like Ryan Helsley in St. Louis, has been a nightmare for hitters to face.
His presence on the mound his pretty much spelled doom for the opposition all season long.
Just these past two months alone, Clase has been absolutely dominant.
He’ll be one of the major keys for the Guardians if they’re going to make a run and try to reach the postseason.
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