Edwin Diaz fell to the ground while celebrating with his Puerto Rico teammates. After he recorded the strikeout to send the Dominican Republic (the betting favorites) home, he and his teammates gathered to celebrate.
A few moments later, the celebration turned to a more somber mood as Diaz lay writhing on the ground in pain. He was helped off the field and onto a stretcher, with Puerto Rico and New York Mets fans fearing the worst.
•
It has now been confirmed that Edwin Diaz suffered a torn patellar tendon in the celebration. He is very likely to miss the entire MLB regular season with the injury, as he has an eight-month timeline for recovery.
That is just the first timeline and Diaz could progress well and be able to make a return this season, but that is an extreme longshot. If all goes perfectly, then he might be back for the postseason, but even that is very unlikely.
The Mets lose their closer in brutal fashion as he wasn’t even pitching for them. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even pitching when he suffered the injury.
Edwin Diaz injury: Should MLB let its brightest stars play in the WBC?
Some teams don’t let their star players play in the World Baseball Classic, and for good reason. They have far too much of a vested interest in the players to allow them to risk injury for a three-week tournament.
Unfortunately, many teams will probably adopt that idea going forward. The next WBC will likely see even fewer MLB stars as Diaz’s injury comes in the first year of a five-year, $102 million contract (the largest for a reliever ever).