Emmanuel Clase might be the last closer standing
He's the Guardian of the ninth inning for Cleveland, in a week when so many other relievers were waylaid.
Playoff games used to end whenever Mariano Rivera took off his jacket. He was the master of the ninth inning in Yankee Stadium, and when he trotted in, the PA system blared Enter Sandman, and the people in the steep rows of the ballpark screamed out victory before his first pitch. He gave up one earned run in his last 25 postseason appearances, and after Rivera was taken deep by Cleveland’s Sandy Alomar to end the 1997 Division Series, he gave up only one other homer in his next 83 playoff games. His postseason ERA was 0.70, and he brought four World Series titles to manager Joe Torre, who often expanded Rivera’s one-two-three innings to four-five-six. Almost always, the Sandman made sure Torre slept well.
You might have noticed that Rivera doesn’t live here anymore, at least not in October. This was not a great week for today’s closers. On Monday, the Mets’ Edwin Diaz and the Braves’ Yasiel Iglesias got touched up. On Wednesday, Houston’s Josh Hader was taken out by a double from Detroit’s Andy Ibanez. On Thursday, Milwaukee’s Devin Williams threw the series-losing home run to the Mets’ Peter Alonso.
This trend will be tested in the Division Series when Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase begins loosening up against Detroit. If one man can withstand it, it’s him. But recent history is not on his side, because it has been a long time since a closer was the dominant figure, the way Rivera and Dan Quisenberry and Rich Gossage and Bruce Sutter always seemed to be. And that is why today’s postseason, which last three rounds even for the teams who’ve earned byes, is more of a crapshoot than a referendum.
The last man to get three saves in a World Series was Sergio Romo of the Giants, against Detroit in 2012. The next year Wade Davis gave Kansas City four scoreless innings. Koji Uehara was a prominent actor in the Red Sox’s 2013 victory over St. Louis, and in 2007 Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon had three saves in a four-game sweep of Colorado. The year after that, Philadelphia’s Brad Lidge was 41-for-41 in save chances during the regular season, then got two saves in a brisk two innings against Tampa Bay. But Lidge was probably better when he was with Houston in 2005, and still got beaten up by the White Sox.
Will Smith was Atlanta’s fallback position in a 2021 World Series win over Houston. Then Smith served on the next two Series champions, Houston and Texas. Now he’s with Kansas City. In fact, there’s been a Will Smith on the past four world champs, if you count the Dodger catcher.
The new strategy is to use one of your starters in the late innings, instead of honoring the starter-setup-closer pattern that had seemed to work well for so long. Chris Sale of Boston got the final outs of the 2018 Series. Julio Urias did the same for the Dodgers in 2020, as did Charlie Morton of Houston against the Dodgers in 2017. In fact, Houston’s Lance McCullers retired 13 of the last 14 Yankees to clinch the ALCS that year. Those Houston teams were managed by A.J. Hinch, as is this Detroit team, and there is nothing situational about his approach. Jason Foley is his closer of choice, but Beau Brieske and Will Vest finished up the Wild Card games against the Astros. Madison Bumgarner took the Giants home against Kansas City in 2014.
There is absolutely no telling which bullpen will deliver the trophy at the end of this month (or the beginning of the next one). In 2019 the Nationals had the worst bullpen numbers in the National League, giving up a .266 batting average, yet Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle were two of the main drivers of their run to the World Series, and a 7-game win over the Astros.
But if Clase coughs up a lead by the Guardians, we’ll know the climate has changed.
Clase is the first man to lead the A.L. in saves for three consecutive years since Quisenberry did it four times for the Royals (1982-85). He had 47 in 50 situations this season, in which he held the batters to a .154 average, eight extra-base hits, 10 walks and five earned runs. That’s for the whole season.
He is the cleanup man for a Cleveland bullpen that made its own history, putting up a 1.05 WHIP and a .203 batting-average against. That led every other pen in baseball by 0.11 in WHIP and 12 points in average. Clase, Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith and Tim Herrin were the first quartet of relievers in MLB history to make 70 appearances apiece with a sub-2.00 ERA.
Clase is the best Rivera imitator baseball has. His nuclear pitcher is a cut fastball that, in August, averaged over 100 mph. That cutter was Rivera’s only pitch, and Clase prospered this year by throwing it far more often than he did in 2023, when he blew 12 saves and had a ERA of 3.22 (as opposed to this year’s 0.61). But he also has a 90-plus slider that comes in handy.
As is customary for closers, Clase did not travel to his role nonstop. San Diego signed him from the Dominican Republic and then shipped him to Texas as the player to be named later. Clase was able to pitch on the Rangers’ varsity and show that cutter, but they dealt him to Cleveland because they wanted to know if Corey Kluber was still a prominent starter, which he wasn’t. Clase also took a PED suspension after he got to Cleveland.
When opponents spend hours breaking down your tendencies, it can be frustrating for them when you have only one. It’s reminiscent of the Angels’ Troy Percival, who rode 100 mph stuff to the big leagues and was asked about his pitching strategy: “I’ll let you know when I start using some.”
Detroit has faced Clase six times this year. Sometimes that helps. Other times, like when the Tigers go 1-for-19 against him in 2024, it might not.
Two of the most famous playoff home runs in the past 36 years are Kirk Gibson’s slam and Joe Carter’s touch-’em-all Series-winner. They were struck off Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, and Mitch Williams, who had 43 saves in 1993. So everybody’s got scar tissue, even Rivera. However, any deviation in Clase’s graph will prompt major concern in his workplace. He’s not just trying to save games, but a craft.