CLEVELAND — Emmanuel Clase is reigniting a national conversation about one of the game's most prestigious awards.

Relief pitchers are rarely even considered for the Cy Young Award, given out to each league's best pitcher every year. But, at times, a closer can be so dominant he forces his name into the discussion — and Clase has done that in 2024.

The argument for a closer being considered for a Cy Young Award is that he often pitches in the most important situations, and his effectiveness has to be truly elite. The arguments against them mostly involve a workload issue, as starters pitch many, many more innings for their team, which has real value to a club over the course of a long season.

Without question, on a per-inning basis, Clase has been the American League's best pitcher. But Detroit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal has unquestionably been the league's best starter who also has logged a high number of innings, making it a complicated situation.

Some with the Guardians, including first-year manager Stephen Vogt, have begun to lobby for Clase to be considered for the award.

"I mean, the way I look at the Cy Young is kind of like the MVP — it's the most valuable pitcher. And what Emmanuel means to us and to our team, he 100% should be in consideration, but that's my opinion on it," Vogt said. "But I don't get to vote and I'm a little biased."

Emmanuel Clase 2024 by the numbers

Clase this season has a borderline historic 0.66 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 68⅓ innings, along with a career-high 46 saves. His 5.89 Win Probability Added (which measures how impactful plays are considering the timing, situation and other factors) is No. 1 among all pitchers.

Skubal has been tremendous as the Tigers ace, posting a 2.50 ERA with 214 strikeouts in 180 innings. He has a 4.00 WPA, though he leads all AL pitchers in fWAR with 5.4, besting Clase's 2.1.

Ben Lively, a Guardians starter, agreed Clase at least deserves to be in the discussion for his stellar season.

"Absolutely — it's for the best pitcher in baseball," Lively said. "[Clase has been] unbelievable. … He's one of the most fun pitchers I've ever seen in my life. It's so cool."

AL Cy Young betting odds for Emmanuel Clase, Tarik Skubal

The oddsmakers are extremely confident that Skubal will take home the award as things stand two weeks before the end of the regular season.

For strictly entertainment purposes only, the MGM Sportsbook has Skubal at -5000 to win it, which translates to a 1-to-50 bet (betting $100 on Skubal would net you only a $2 gain). Clase is listed at +2000, or 20-to-1 (a $100 bet on Clase would net you $2,000 in winnings).

Those are pretty severe opposites when it comes to the odds. No other pitcher is inside a 50-to-1 chance other than Clase and Skubal.

'Very Mariano-like': It hasn't mattered hitters know Emmanuel Clase's cutter is coming

In either case, it can be argued that neither pitcher could have performed much better in their respective roles.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves, and to get to that point you have to work throughout the season," Clase said through a team translator. "So far I've been able to put up those types of numbers that can be part of the consideration."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase's 2024 Cy Young odds, case