For some elite rescuers at baseball, the first month of the 2025 MLB season has been a tough season.

On opening day, the Guardians of Cleveland approached Emmanuel Clase to save at the bottom of the ninth inning when he allowed three hits while the game against the Kansas City Royals continued. A week later, he surrendered several runs without preservation, including home runs. The rest of April was the same: Kras gave up 23 hits and 10 innings (all of which were won) in 14 games in March and April to earn 6.75 ERA.

Although he seems to be returning to form – he has won and four saves in the last five games while allowing one to win – what happened in March and April?

It's not the same as Clase of the greatest season ever in 2024, when he made 47 saves with 50 chances and 0.61 ERA. He allowed only 10 runs throughout the season, five of which were not obtained (with four ghost runners in the extra innings, one of which caused a Clase error). Indeed, taking the Ghost Runner away, Kras was almost perfect: both losses were the result of Ghost Runners in the extra inning, one of the saves that exploded. The batsman hit only 0.154 and he produced only two home runs.

Almost perfect... At least before the playoffs, Kras was shockingly allowed to run eight runs in 14 innings, earning three home runs, blowing up a save and losing two more games.

But Kras isn't the only close-range struggle in 2025. Two-time All-Star Devin Williams traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Yankees in the offseason and released the 9.24 era and was out of work. The Chicago Cubs bought Ryan from the Houston Astros to fill their ninth inning role, and he just had a historic breakdown that allowed a run of nine innings without the need for a retired batsman. Raisel Iglesias, the Atlanta Braves' closer, has already scored five home runs in just 14 innings - more than he allowed in 2024. Edwin Diaz, the New York Mets closer, didn’t brag, but he looked shaky at times and had surrendered 7 times - twice less in his 2022 Light Light-of 2022.

When the Guardians hosted the Philadelphia Phillies (a team with their own bullpen issues) this weekend’s “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN, let’s dig out these pitchers and break their struggles, as well as measures everyone can recover.

Emmanuel Clase, Guardian of Cleveland

After those bad early outings in mid-April, Kras told reporters: “A few days ago, I was thinking, ‘Hey, I’m human.’ I can make mistakes. "At the time, The Guardian manager Stephen Vogt said he wasn't sure what went wrong with his close range: "It's too early." …Emanuel just needs to restore his confidence. ”

It seems to be the initial assessment, and maybe Clase is scarred by the playoff struggles. He's very good at speeds - his knives have an average of 99 mph and he has 71% of the time. Indeed, his swing ratio on the cutter and sliders has increased a few percentage points from last season, and his overall sport on both courts is slightly higher than in 2024. Still, he allowed only 39 innings to hit 25 innings in 2024 innings in 74 innings.

Looking back at the videos of all 25 hits, these two main contents are clear: As Vogt mentioned, Clase left some courts in the middle, some of which are cutters, without much action. (As you'd expect, there are some unfortunate luck, too.)

On April 20, Clase allowed four hits and three runs to brag against the Pittsburgh Buccaneers. Tommy Pham started the rally with a beaten doubles blow on the midfielder's head, but the next three hits were 76.1 mph, 79.1 mph and 80.4 mph respectively. Two of them are the ground in the relative field, and one is the solo hand on Clase's legs (it's one of the worst pitchers in the Grand Slam, which doesn't help). In the other 21 hits, two infield choppers, Jose Ramirez, did not compete, one bent over and grabbed right-ball player Angel Martinez's glove and the other infield hit Clase's glove.

But there are some hard balls. Los Angeles Angel Catcher Logan O'Hoppe hit the cutter with a 99 mph cutter at the top of the area and hit it on the central field fence. His teammate Jo Adell hit a good slider below the knee and rang a double in the gap. Overall, 12 of the 25 hits allowed were hard hits, those with exit speeds of 95 mg. Last year, he only played 18 hits throughout the season.

Overall, clase should be good. He did go through a similar season in 2023, when he went 3-9 with a 3.22 ERA and scored 68 hits in 72 innings. These losses are mainly unfortunate issues – in the infield and in the extra scene where the ghost runners are allowed to score, many soft ground balls. This year, the question is more about location. These things are still there, so look for the rest of the way.

Devin Williams, Yankees, New York

Like Kras, Williams has his own playoff collapse. In Game 3 of the Winemakers' Wildcard Series against the Mets, he led 2-0 in ninth with an eight-game battle and walked a game to Francisco Lindor on a 0-2 game and gave up singles for Brandon Nimmo and got a three-shot three-run run from Pete Alonso's go-ahead (and then allowed three-quarters run). It's an amazing event since 2020, and his ERA has been at 1.70 ERA since 2020.

Williams had a drastic breakdown in the Yankees’ first month with the Yankees: He allowed 15 runs in the 12-British innings, gave up 13 hits and 11 walks, hitting 2 batsmen. He lost his close role after allowing seven runs in two outings. He performed well after his relegation, but then played three games against San Diego Padres on Monday. He was forced to serve in the 10th inning Wednesday, and he walked one batsman and hit another but beat Jam with three strikeouts and won.

Can an outing turn the situation around?

“I feel like I’m back where I need to be mentally and physically,” Williams said after the victory. “I’m just competing.”

Compared to Kras, Williams struggled more clearly. From 2020 to 2024, Williams was also a two-tier pitcher, with his four-man racing and otherworldly change to the name "Air Watchtower" - creating a nearly 48% spread in his turnover while his fastball won 41%. In 2025, these figures fell to 35% and 27% respectively. He always takes a lot of batsmen, averaging 4.5 steps per nine innings in the first four seasons, but hits 7.8 in 2025.

"Things are there," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Monday's struggle. "It's good, I do believe he'll roll down and keep the lights and dominate. But whether it's walking or falling behind in some cases, its command part will hurt him a little."

The solution seems simple, but the execution is not. For now, Williams will need a series of good outings before fully convinced that Alonso has not broken his confidence.

Ryan Pressly, Chicago Bear

The Cubs’ bullpen ranks 25th in the increased probability of winning in 2024, so adding deeper depth and settling in more recent games is an offseason. Last season, Pressly was close to Astly from 2020 to 2023. But in the press, the Cubs acquired a pitcher, which, while still valid, was in decline in both the things and the results.

His four-slit speed peaked at 95.7 mph in 2021, but dropped to 93.8 in 2024 and 93.3 mph in 2025. His strikeout rate has been above 30% from 2018 to 2022, but has dropped to 23.8% in 2024. This season. Is this season? 8.1% minuscule. Of 370 pitchers, this is the second to pitch at least 10 innings.

The climax of all this was on display on Tuesday, when Pressly reached the top of the 11th inning. He faced eight batsmen, threw 26 balls, gave up singles, fielder choice/sacrifice batsmen, batsmen, singles, singles and another single, and then manager Craig Counsell finally removed him. Three of the five hits are classified as hard hits, and the other two are line drives. The press has no incentive to cause a swing, but has only been eighth in Major League Baseball history, facing at least eight batsmen without showing up.

The Cubs said he will maintain high leverage. He has also been draining with April 22 to relieve discomfort knees. Tuesday's game has only been his third appearance since then - before that, he has made seven consecutive appearances without scoring.

Still, the lack of strikeouts and swings and turnovers is shocking. The rest of the Chicago bullpen also didn't completely lock it up as it ranks 28th in the probability of victory -- but at this point it's hard to keep the Prasts closer unless he can improve his strikeout rate.

Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves

Iglesias has five 30-season seasons, including the last two brave seasons. The 2024 season was his best so far: 6-2, 1.95 ERA, 38 saves 34, with an average score of 0.160. Heck, the numbers look better when they took out a five-game losing streak in September.

Iglesias has always been more of a flying ball pitcher - easy home run early in his career - but this season he has been flying ball faster than ever, with 77% of his game shooting 55% last season. This has resulted in six home runs. On April 2, Shohei Ohtani beat him, defeated him with a pretty good change, giving the Dodgers a 6-5 victory in his explosion. Four of the other five home runs were sliders, and three were hangers in the middle of the plate. Eugenio Suarez went up and left with a 97 mph fastball, crushing it to the left field.

Other than that, everything else looks pretty good: Iglesias' strikeout rate has improved compared to last year and his walking rate has dropped. His fastball speed dropped by 1 mph, but that was an early issue - he had thrown 43 and the batsman was 5-9 with four home runs. Last year, he had a slider rate of 42%, allowing only one home run, so it was a key asset for his fastball, sinker and changes.

While Iglesias should be fine, it is worth noting that he may have been lucky last year. His career rate is 9.0%, and his career allowed only 4.8% home runs on fly balls. Luck seems to be on the wrong side of this year.