An Edwin Diaz nightmare looms for the Mets

It was bad enough that the New York Mets let Edwin Diaz get away in free agency.

But it was worse that he landed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions.

It could reach the worst-case scenario for the Mets, too, because the Dodgers will be right in contention again this season. For New York to go on a deep run, it'll likely have to go through L.A.

And waiting there could be Diaz.

"Every team has worries, though," ESPN's Bradford Doolittle wrote in a new article released Friday. "Even the Dodgers. But as the Mets have kept their projection in the range where they could emerge as L.A.'s primary challenger, a scenario that would be a nightmare for Mets fans looms as possible. That is where the teams clash in the National League Championship Series, the series goes long, and it is decided because the Dodgers have Edwin Diaz and the Mets do not."

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The Mets did get other bullpen help to make up for the loss, bringing in Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, both from the Yankees.

But there are very few relievers in baseball that even sort of resemble Diaz. He's special, and he's no longer with the Mets.

The Dodgers got a win off the field that could help them keep winning on the field.

"The Dodgers gave him a better offer," Doolittle writes. "It comes down to that. That miss on the Mets' part was part of an offseason that got off to a slow, heavily scrutinized start but eventually caught momentum and turned out pretty well."

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The Mets collapsed down the stretch of the 2025 season to miss the playoffs entirely. And then they lost a number of stalwarts in the offseason while replacing them with new faces.

There's no telling exactly how the upcoming Mets season will go, but if Diaz comes trotting in from the other bullpen in a key moment against New York, it'll certainly be quite ironic.

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