Cade Smith may lead MLB closers in a key stat, but it also highlights where the Cleveland Guardians must improve.
On Friday night, Cade Smith jogged to the mound ahead of the ninth inning in a one-run ball game. The Cleveland Guardians closer gave up one hit, but struck out the other three batters to notch another save and another win for his team, a theme that has become routine over the last month.
However, at one point earlier this season, there was some serious discussion about whether Cade Smith had what it took to be Cleveland’s closer long-term.
Well, all of those questions and concerns have seemingly been silenced as he’s seemingly back to his dominant form over the last month, and is the first player in MLB this year to reach an impressive mark: 20 saves.
Right now, Cade’s 20 saves lead all of MLB. He has more than SDP’s Mason Miller (17), TB’s Bryan Baker (15), and STL’s Riley O’Brien.
Manager Stephen Vogt was obviously proud of his player for being the first to hit this season's milestone, but also looked at it from a different perspective, too: the Guardians need to limit the number of save opportunities by building bigger leads on offense.
“He's thrown a lot. We really love the one run game,” Vogt said.
“But again, that's something we need to get better with. It’s great. Love the Cade’s got 20 saves. I hope he ends up with as many as possible, but we need to be better. We need to extend leads.”
May 20, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Cade Smith (36) delivers during the tenth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn ImagesVogt’s perspective is more than fair. For example, during Friday’s win, the Guardians scored all four of their run in the first inning, then held on for dear life for the rest of the game. Cleveland must be better and add on to the lead, so Cade doesn’t need to be used every other night to secure a win.
Still, that doesn’t take away from how good Smith has been over the last month, and how he’s made the turn on the season, and Vogt recognizes that, too.
“We’ve been pretty blessed here for a while with that, and Cade has really taken to this new role,” continued Cleveland’s skipper. “It's an adjustment for anybody, and obviously he wasn't at his best at the beginning of the year, stuff wise, but it's been pretty fun to watch him the last last month or so.”
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