Pete Alonso’s return to Citi Field on Monday had the kind of energy only he can generate. He didn’t reach career home run No. 300, but the night still belonged to him in plenty of ways.
His Baltimore Orioles helped knock the New York Mets out of the playoffs officially, and every Alonso trip to the plate felt like its own event. Even without a milestone homer, the crowd treated him like the main attraction.
Edwin Diaz, meanwhile, is living on the other end of that emotional spectrum.
Once every bit as beloved as Alonso in New York, Diaz has seen his departure from the Mets turn into a much rougher story, and the way things have unfolded with his new team has only widened the gap. While plenty of stories have painted Alonso as exactly what the Orioles hoped he would be, Diaz has not inspired that same kind of confidence with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The latest twist is even more troubling: Diaz may not make the Dodgers’ postseason roster at all.
The Dodgers are far from convinced they want Edwin Diaz in October
That uncertainty comes on top of a brutal 11.85 ERA in 2026, which already gave the Dodgers plenty of reason to pause. Then came Sunday, when Diaz allowed five earned runs in just 0.2 innings during his rehab outing. That performance only strengthened the sense that the Dodgers might be better off leaving him out of any playoff plans.
There’s still time left for a decision. The minor league season ends in a week, with only one more game on the MLB calendar after that.
The Dodgers will likely activate Diaz at some point, but if he looks shaky again, they could decide to pull him from the postseason picture entirely. So far, they’ve managed just fine without him.
The split between Alonso and Diaz was already becoming clear when reports emerged about how their free-agent negotiations played out. The Mets never made Alonso an offer. Diaz, according to the reporting, agreed to his Dodgers deal believing the Mets were prepared to match or top it, but he never circled back to find out whether that was actually true.
That sequence left the Mets looking bad for letting Alonso walk, but better for making an effort to keep Diaz. In the public eye, Diaz came off as the villain, while Alonso was cast as the fan favorite who got discarded.
In Other News...
Pete Alonso Just Gave Mets Fans One Last Emotional Reminder
Pete Alonso has spent enough time around the Mets to know how quickly a season can tilt, so his recent comments about their struggles carried the weight of someone who has lived it. Now with the Baltimore Orioles, he still framed New York as a talented club, but pointed to the familiar mix of injuries and other issues that can drag down even a roster built to contend.
For Mets fans, the most striking part may have been the way Alonso spoke about his own path since leaving Queens. He said hes happy in Baltimore and looked back fondly on his Mets years, including the kind of October moment that tends to stick with a fan base long after a player is gone. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Have A Late Round Pitcher Suddenly Worth Watching Closely
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What makes Jenkins interesting is not just the performance, but the speed with which he could move if the momentum holds. He still looks to be several months from any major league impact, but pitchers who pair strike-throwing with that kind of run prevention tend to keep forcing the conversation. For a Mets club always watching for bullpen help, Jenkins has suddenly become a name worth tracking closely. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans Just Found A New Reason To Be Excited About Mitch Voit
After a disappointing 2026 season that led to Carlos Mendozas firing, the Mets have spent much of their attention turning toward what comes next, and Mitch Voit is starting to look like one of the names worth circling. The organization named Voit its minor-league Player of the Year after a strong stretch of development following his move up to Double-A Binghamton, a sign that he has kept moving in the right direction as the club tries to build a younger foundation for 2027.
For a team trying to reshape its outlook, awards like this matter because they point to players who are doing more than just holding their own in the system. Voits rise gives Mets fans another reason to keep an eye on the farm, especially with the major-league club in a reset mode and looking for answers from within. The next question is whether this progress becomes a real part of the big-league picture soon enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]