Emmanuel Clase becomes first reliever since 2008 to finish as Cy Young finalist

On Monday, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced their finalists for all of baseball's major awards for the 2024 season. A lot of notable things occurred—including the AL Central sweeping both the Cy Young and Manager of the Year vote—though Emmanuel Clase finishing in the top three of AL Cy Young voting was perhaps the most fascinating outcome of the night.

The Cleveland Guardians reliever had a season unlike anything baseball has seen in quite some time this past year. In 74 1/3 innings, he led the league in games finished (66) and saves (47), compiling an absurd 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts, and a laughable 0.659 WHIP. And here's the kicker: according to ERA+, Emmanuel Clase was 574% better than the average pitcher. Five hundred and seventy four percent. For reference, longtime Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has the best career ERA+ in history (205, or 105% better than league average).

By those metrics alone, Clase should be a runaway favorite for a unanimous Cy Young victory. However, in the year 2024, relievers aren't given the love they once were in the awards cycle, and Clase is likely to finish behind prohibitive favorite Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers. Sadly, it wouldn't even be all that surprising to see him finish third behind Seth Lugo of the Royals as well.

Nevertheless, by making it to the finalist stage of the awards process, Clase has done something no reliever has done in over 15 years. The last bullpen-only arm to finish this high in voting was Francisco Rodriguez, affably known as K-Rod, in 2008.

That year, the L.A. Angels closer finished behind a pair of future Phillies teammates in Cliff Lee (the winner) and Roy Halladay. By ERA, ERA+, and K/9, Rodriguez was the best pitcher of the three. However, his 150+ inning deficit clearly hindered his candidacy, and he finished a distant third in voting, losing to Lee by 100 points in the voting process.

This year, Clase finished about 120 innings behind Skubal and roughly 130 innings behind Lugo. It's not the same margin as the one Rodriguez faced (Lee and Halladay both pitched more than 220 innings in 2008), but it's probably a wide enough gap that it'll keep him from earning enough first-place votes to be a serious contender for the award.

The only other reliever with a comparable finish in the voting since '08 was Zachk Britton in 2016, when he finished fourth behind Rick Porcello (the winner), Justin Verlander, and Corey Kluber. He lost the vote by 65 points, though he notably garnered five first-place votes, which was more than Kluber and something K-Rod couldn't accomplish eight years prior.

Britton's 2016 season was arguably even more dominant than the season Clase just had, as the Orioles closer posted a 0.54 ERA in 67.0 innings, which was good for a jaw-dropping, eye-watering, mind-melting 803 ERA+ (703% better than league average). By all accounts, it's one of the best seasons any pitcher has ever had, and it wasn't even good enough to finish top-three in Cy Young voting.

Clase didn't accrue Rodriguez's eye-popping save total, and his dominance didn't extend as far as Britton's did. Clase also has stiffer competition than Britton did; Skubal led qualified American League pitchers in ERA with a 2.39 mark. None of the three pitchers who finished inside the top three in AL Cy Young voting in 2016 had an ERA below 3.00.

Thus, don't expect the Guardians' closer to take home the hardware when the winner is officially announced on November 20. Still, he's he's a shoo-in for the AL Reliever of the Year award on November 14, and his historically great season hasn't gone unnoticed. It may be a long time before a reliever wins the Cy Young award again, though Clase is setting the standard for what it will take.

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