At one point this season, the Cleveland Guardians’ pitching staff looked like it might be in some trouble when ace Shane Bieber went down with a season-ending injury.
Bieber started his 5th opening day start in a row before going down for the rest of the 2024 season with Tommy John surgery.
Other pitchers from the beginning of the season that struggled include Triston McKenzie and Carlos Carrasco.
The Guardians were going to need to make some acquisitions and hope that their bullpen had good seasons to make up for the mess in the starting rotation.
According to Codify on ‘X,’ the Guardians had 4 of the 6 pitchers in Major League Baseball to pitch in at least 74 games and have an earned run average of under 2.
6 MLB pitchers pitched in at least 74 games during the regular season and had an ERA under 2.00. That's very good.
4 of them were Cleveland Guardians. That's ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/UKvP68yoA4
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) October 14, 2024
This stat shows just how good the Guardians’ pitching was in the 2024 season.
The 4 pitchers who achieved these dominating statistics include all-star closer Emmanuel Clase, relief pitcher Hunter Gaddis, relief pitcher Cade Smith, and relief pitcher Tim Herrin.
Clase appeared in 74 games and had an earned run average of 0.61 with 47 saves and 66 strikeouts in 74.1 innings pitched.
Gaddis appeared in 78 games and had an earned run average of 1.57 with 66 strikeouts in 74.2 innings pitched.
Smith appeared in 74 games and had an earned run average of 1.91 with 103 strikeouts in 75.1 innings pitched.
Finally, Herrin appeared in 75 games and had an earned run average of 1.92 with 68 strikeouts in 65.2 innings pitched.
Needless to say, the bullpen picked up the slack when the starting rotation was injured and pitching poorly.
The Guardians will look to these 4 in the ALCS to get them out of any sticky situations.
NEXT: David Fry Has Honest Admission About The City Of Cleveland
