In terms of the most fundamental aspect of its collective job–preventing runs–the Cleveland Indians bullpen was the third-best in all of baseball in 2019 with a 3.76 ERA. Normally, a top-three finish in just about any major statistical category would warrant a place in the discussion among the league’s elite.
But the Indians bullpen never quite felt elite in 2019, did it? Particularly in the second half of the season, late leads with thin margins for error never felt completely safe. This is not something one would normally think to say about the third-best run-prevention group in the game.