It might turn out that the best outcome of this season for the Mets was missing out on Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker.
They tried, but both ended up with the Dodgers instead. The knee-jerk reaction was the rich got richer and the two-time champions were ruining baseball because they had no off switch when it came to payroll or adding stars — all reiterated earlier this month when Los Angeles traded for two-time defending AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Yet, over the weekend, both Díaz (three blown saves in his past five outings and an overall 10.66 ERA) and Tucker were booed vociferously at Dodger Stadium. Manager Dave Roberts benched Tucker on Saturday because his home performance has been horrendous. Back in the lineup Sunday, Tucker completed an 0-for-19 homestand and made a key error that exacerbated an inefficient outing by Skubal.
The Dodgers lost the game, dropping three of four to the Brewers. Roberts followed by publicly airing how substandard he has found the offense and defense the past six weeks. Now, these are the Dodgers. They went 0-6 against the Brewers last regular season, then swept them in the NLCS. They will head into these playoffs as large favorites to win a third straight title, and Díaz, Tucker and especially Skubal are talented enough to have huge October moments.
