Dave Roberts didn’t dance around it: he can absolutely see Edwin Díaz closing games in this postseason. The Dodgers manager made that statement one day after the Puerto Rican reliever threw a perfect inning in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves — 12 pitches, 2 strikeouts, 100.8 mph top velocity — at the highest-leverage moment of the night. LA lost 3-2 and the series is tied 1-1, but Díaz was the best story to come out of Sunday.
What Roberts Said — and Why It Matters
The Dodgers skipper was clear: he «absolutely» could see Díaz in the ninth inning. He didn’t hand him the closer title outright — Tanner Scott remains the first name out of the bullpen for save situations — but the comment is far from nothing. Roberts has been running the NLDS with a four-man high-leverage group (Scott, Díaz, Roki Sasaki, and Evan Phillips) without a strict hierarchy. What he said Sunday is that Díaz has entered the closing conversation.
Context makes that statement hit harder. Díaz arrived in LA in December 2025 on a three-year, $69 million deal meant to anchor the back end of the bullpen. What followed was a season to forget: two stints on the injured list — first for loose bodies in his right elbow that required surgery, then for neck inflammation — and an ERA of 11.85 through his first 16 appearances. That full-season number, though, distorts where he actually is right now.
How Díaz Got to This Inning
The turning point came during his rehab stint in Triple-A, where the pitching staff identified a mechanical adjustment: lifting his front hip to sync his delivery. Easy to describe, hard to fix. But it worked.
After returning on September 18, Díaz posted 5 scoreless innings, 9 strikeouts, 1 hit, and 1 walk across five appearances before the postseason began. Sunday was the biggest stage yet. He entered the top of the sixth with the Dodgers trailing by a run and was untouchable:
- Struck out Austin Riley on a 99.5 mph fastball followed by two sliders
- Got the next batter on a groundout to first
- Blew away Mike Yastrzemski with a 100.8 mph fastball
- Result: 12 pitches, 3 outs, 2 strikeouts, 0 hits — his most explosive inning of the 2026 season
The outing also came in a historically electric game: five different pitchers — three from LA, two from Atlanta — hit 100 mph or harder in the same NLDS game. Henriquez reached 103.0, Sasaki 102.1, Suárez 101.4, and Fuentes 101.2. Díaz, at 100.8, was part of that record-setting night even as the Dodgers came away with the loss.
What Comes Next for LA’s Bullpen
The NLDS shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Tuesday, October 6, with the series knotted at one game apiece. If Roberts hands Díaz the ninth at any point in this series, it would be the first time the 32-year-old has closed a postseason game in a Dodgers uniform.
He has a strong October résumé from his time in New York — 9 postseason appearances with the Mets, 2.31 ERA, 16 strikeouts — but that was a different team and a different chapter. What Sunday made clear is that the pitcher Los Angeles paid for is real. Roberts saw it. The numbers backed it up. Now the only question is whether he hands Díaz the keys to the ninth, or whether Tanner Scott stays the official closer. That answer is probably coming before the weekend.
