With a 33-17 record, six straight wins and nine in their last ten games, the Cleveland Guardians are one of the best teams in the American League.
Who would have thought that a team that went 76-86 last year would be so good the following season?
The Guards’ offense has improved some, but the unit doing the heavy lifting has been the pitching staff.
To be more specific, the relievers are top-notch.
In fact, this bullpen is the best in the league and it might not be that close.
“Our bullpen has been brilliant in the first two months of the season,” the Guards tweeted, with a revealing graphic.
The graphic contains five statistical categories and Cleveland’s rank among all 30 teams in baseball.
See for yourself.
Our bullpen has been brilliant in the first two months of the season. 🤩#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/157duew4Ni
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 23, 2024
Cleveland has the lowest bullpen ERA in MLB at 2.52.
They also have the best BB/9 (walks per nine innings) in the circuit at 2.67, so the unit does not hurt itself with free passes.
The Guardians bullpen is also the best in HR/9 (home runs allowed per nine innings) with 0.48, and in saves with 18.
Emmanuel Clase, the closer, has been historically great with a 0.36 ERA in 25.1 innings.
Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis also have an ERA under 2.00, while pitchers like Cade Smith and Nick Sandlin have also been magnificent.
This is a deep, talented unit that has no weakness, and that’s why Cleveland has been so good in close games, or at least in part.
As long as their bullpen shows this level of dominance, the foundation is there for the Guardians to go really far in 2024.
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