Emmanuel Clase may go down as the Cleveland Guardians greatest villain if latest allegations are correct

By now, most people know that Cleveland Guardians closer, or is it fair to say former closer, Emmanuel Clase, has been accused of rigging pitches in favor of bettors. He missed a good chunk of the 2025 season because of the allegations, and it seems like, assuming he's found guilty, his career is done. Until recently, however, the accusation was mostly about 48 games where he may or may not have rigged his pitches. 

Those could've been random games in May for all we would've known. That may no longer be the case, actually. 

According to Zach Meisel, Clase is being accused of rigging pitches during the Cleveland Guardians 2024 Playoff run, which may or may not include his Game 2 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series or his Game 4 loss in the American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees.

Clase was integral to the overall run of the Guardians in the playoffs that season, having appeared in seven total games against the Tigers and the Yankees. While he pitched fine enough against the Tigers with no real signs of struggle or deception, against the Yankees, he completely "fell apart". He would lose two of the games for the Guards, while blowing a save in a third. In two of those games, Games 3 and 4, Clase came in with either a lead or a tied score, only to blow both of those outcomes. The Guardians would still win the game he blew the save on, Game 3, but they'd lose Game 4.

It's impossible to say the Guardians win the series if everyone is doing their job to the best of their ability, but for Clase to be accused of what he's accused of, and going 0-2, with another outing where he blew a save, it's hard to say for sure they couldn't have. Assuming the allegations are true, Clase may have cost his team a chance to make the World Series. Fixing a game is a lifetime ban regardless of when you do it in a season. 

To do it and potentially cost your team a World Series run? That's next-level evil.

For the integrity of the sport, stuff like this can't happen. That, on its own, warrants this entire debacle to be investigated, but if you're a Cleveland Guardians fan, and Clase did what he's accused of, it makes him easily the worst villain the franchise has ever dealt with. Someone may have intentionally sabotaged his own team and kept them from a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How do you forgive that as a fan?

As a player, 2024 may have been the squad's best chance to win a title before Jose Ramirez retires. It may have been the last time Steven Kwan had a chance to make an October to remember for fans. Clase may have robbed millions of people, and hundreds of Guardians players and employees, the chance to become immortals in the eyes of the baseball world. 

How do you forgive that?