We often think of sports in a dichotomy of jubilation and anguish. Somebody has to win, somebody else has to lose. We less often think of those times where the jubilation and the anguish are one and the same. When Díaz sealed the win for Puerto Rico in last year’s World Baseball Classic to earn a trip to the tournament’s quarterfinals, the happiness of the victory was immediately overshadowed by the brutal knee injury Díaz suffered during the celebration. The loss of Díaz—coming off an absolutely brilliant 2022 campaign—set the tone for a season of disappointments in Flushing. Here's to a 2024 of joy without the pain for one of baseball's most dominant closers.

Did you know that “Narco”—Díaz’s entrance song by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet that became a viral sensation—actually has lyrics? It’s easy to forget amidst the resounding trumpet call that is the real hallmark of the song, but it’s true. There is just one verse and it is repeated twice. The last line of that verse: My goons are strippin' all these cats down to their Underoos. Díaz likely didn’t pick the song for its evocative lyrics, but that line describes exactly what he did to hitters all year long. He pantsed them, day in and day out, inducing cartoonish whiffs that may very well have literally had cats down to their Underoos if their pants weren’t held up by belts. He struck out over half the batters he faced—a rate over ten percentage points higher than any other reliever in baseball in 2022. Of the Mets’ many impending free agents, Díaz was likely the highest on the priority list to retain because he is irreplaceable, both due to his elite level of performance and the show-stopping event his outings have become. The Mets demonstrated this by inking Díaz to a five-year, $102 million dollar contract the day after the World Series concluded—the largest contract ever for a relief pitcher—keeping their star closer in New York long term. Alexa, play “Narco.”

Of Díaz’s three seasons in New York so far, one was an abject disaster, one was two months of dominant relief work and one was fine. What will the fourth be? If you’re an optimistic sort, you can point to the fact that the majority of his bad numbers in 2021 came from a July in which he gave up nine runs and eight walks in 11 innings. If you’re a less charitable sort, you’ll point to the pedestrian (for him, anyway) 34.6% strikeout rate, 10 points off both his breakout 2018 and excellent ‘20. Those missing whiffs didn’t turn into any extra damage, nor did they come with a drop in velocity; in fact, Díaz actually added heat to his fastball, which clocked in at 98.8 mph on average, his fastest ever. Instead, he just gave up more contact in the strike zone and got fewer swings-and-misses, particularly on his four-seamer. As is, he’ll continue handling the ninth for the Mets with an eye toward breaking the bank next winter.

It took until September of his second season with the Mets, but Díaz is finally starting to resemble the pitcher the team thought they were acquiring in their blockbuster trade, instead of  the combustible reliever they received in 2019. The signs that his first season in Queens could have been a fluke were always there, but after being gently worked back into high-leverage situations, Díaz turned up the heat and struck out 45.5 percent  of the batters he faced in 2020. He ended his season with a dominant stretch that reaffirmed his grasp on the closer role and as the anchor of the bullpen.