CLEVELAND -- So much focus has been on the Indians' offense coming into the 2021 season, analyzing -- once again -- whether the bats will be able to provide enough run support to back the club’s elite starting rotation. But as essential as it is to push runs across the plate, the team’s relief corps may end up being the most vital part of the roster.

The Indians’ 5-2 victory over the Tigers on Sunday at Progressive Field played out as perfectly as Cleveland could have drawn it up. Although starter Logan Allen threw more than 30 pitches in the first inning, he was still able to grind through five innings on the rubber, setting up the Indians' preferred quartet of Bryan Shaw-Nick Wittgren-James Karinchak-Emmanuel Clase in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

“The bullpen is unbelievable,” Allen said. “That is definitely something that’s overlooked. Uncle Bryan came in there and the rest of the boys and took care of business, man. They’re awesome.”

And while the addition of Karinchak helped improve this group in ‘20, having Clase thrown into the mix this season has the potential to take this bullpen to a more dominant level, which he proved once again in the series finale against the Tigers.

“It’s something that kind of fires me up, like, ‘Here comes the big guy,’” slugger Franmil Reyes said of Clase. “There’s no chance they’re getting anything on this guy.”

“[Clase is] obviously, stupidly good,” Shaw said.

Clase has brought a different type of excitement to the late innings of Indians games. The 23-year-old right-hander said he can sense the crowd getting more and more excited as the radar gun perpetually flashes triple-digit numbers on the screen. On Sunday, the crowd couldn’t contain its roar as he threw seven pitches over 100.0 mph to help secure his second save of the season.

“It’s unbelievable,” Allen said of Clase’s velocity. “It’s unfair. It definitely makes you think about, how do people hit him? I really don’t [know]. … It’s fun, man. He’s a phenomenal player, and he has a ton of talent, and he’s doing really well so far.”

The names in the Indians’ bullpen may not be the most well-known in the league, but it’s a group that’s found a way to get the job done consistently over the last two years, even prior to Clase’s arrival. In 2019, Cleveland’s relievers collectively pitched to a 3.76 ERA (the third lowest in the Majors) before owning a 3.53 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (the third lowest in the American League that year).

The Indians’ rotation has proved time and time again what it can do on any given night. And with the streaky trends of the offense over the last few seasons, Cleveland has learned the importance of holding on to a lead as soon as the bats get hot. That’s where the role of the bullpen becomes imperative for this club.

Mix Clase’s stuff with Karinchak’s and the Indians have a strong one-two punch at the back end of the ‘pen. Karinchak wasn’t at his sharpest in Spring Training, and he hasn’t quite found his regular groove just yet on the rubber, but the right-hander has still maintained his 0.00 ERA through three frames, including a scoreless inning with a walk and three strikeouts on Sunday.

Wittgren was responsible for the lone run charged to the ‘pen on Sunday (a solo shot by Wilson Ramos), but he’s been one of Cleveland’s unsung heroes over the past two seasons, as he pitched to a 2.99 ERA over the ‘19 and ‘20 seasons. But this season, he could have some competition for the unsung hero title.

Indians manager Terry Francona said from the start of the season that he expects Shaw to be this team’s wild card. He could be used in any role and will absolutely be eating up plenty of innings. Not only has he proven that he’s been able to reinvent himself to stay sharp at 33 years of age, he may serve an even bigger role as a mentor to a young ‘pen.

“You do what you can to make sure that you stay with it, stay relevant, stay good enough to keep your spot,” Shaw said. “But at the same time, try to help those guys get better as long as [you] can because most likely they're going to be around longer than most people. Probably not me, but everybody else.”