World Baseball Classic: Edwin Diaz injury is just foolish

With all the injury-related worries expressed by MLB teams and players regarding the World Baseball Classic, it’s ironic that the biggest injury inflicted on one of the tournament’s stars (Edwin Diaz of the New York Mets) was unrelated to play on the field.

Can somebody explain why we encourage players to rough each other up after a win?

The victim this time was Diaz, the Mets closer who had a 1.31 ERA in 2022 and is the recent recipient of a five-year, $102 million deal. He struck out Ketel Marte, Jean Segura and Teoscar Hernandez in quick succession in the ninth inning Wednesday night in Miami to wrap up Puerto Rico’s 5-2 win over the Dominican Republic.

The victory advanced Puerto Rico to the tournament’s quarterfinals, where they will play Mexico, and the Puerto Rican players celebrated on the field in a way that has become familiar … they pummeled one another.

It was not immediately clear from video exactly how the injury occurred, but it appeared to be serious. Diaz crumpled to the ground and had to be taken off the field in a wheelchair. It was diagnosed as a knee injury and he was to undergo imaging to determine the precise extent of the damage Thursday.

Diaz is hardly the first star to be injured celebrating on the field. Some years ago, Angels slugger Kendrys Morales suffered a crippling leg injury celebrating a home run. In 2009, Angel Guzman’s celebratory head slap gave Cub teammate Derrek Lee neck spasms that cost him several games.

Cody Bellinger, now with the Cubs, famously injured his shoulder celebrating a home run in Game 7 of the 2020 National League championship Series. San Francisco infielder Aubrey Huff injured his knee celebrating Matt Cain’s perfect game in 2012.

Astros pitcher Lance McCullers injured his shoulder when it was hit by a champagne bottle during a 2022 postseason clincher. Chris Coghlan tore a hamstring giving a teammate a pie-facial after a 2009 walkoff win. These just add to some of the more bizarre injuries in MLB history.

The solution is simple: celebrate joyously, but like an adult. Besides, Puerto Rico hasn’t actually won anything worth really celebrating yet. All Wednesday’s victory did was advance them one stage closer to the WBC title.

They still have to beat Venezuela plus two more teams to win the tournament, the only goal really worth celebrating.

Stanley Cup players have this celebration thing right. During hockey’s postseason, winners literally won’t even touch any trophy short of the Stanley Cup for fear of leaving the impression that they are happy with something short of the title.

Diaz’s injury is one more illustration why baseball players need to learn that lesson.