Even For the Internet, The Edwin Diaz Discourse is Stupid

New York Mets closer extraordinaire and trumpet enthusiast Edwin Diaz suffered what appears to be a significant injury last night celebrating Puerto Rico's World Baseball Classic victory over the Dominican Republic.

It sucks. It really sucks. You will get nothing from me suggesting anything other than this is profoundly unfortunate and Mets fans are right to feel sick to their stomachs. When that happens, of course, part of the grieving process is to lash out and overreact. So it's no surprise that we're seeing a deluge of takes calling for the complete shutdown of the WBC until we can all figure out what the hell is going on.

Let's do a thought experiment and agree with that take. Truthfully, it would be a short hiatus. The next scheduled games would take place and we'd all move on. Because what happens in sports is that athletes get hurt from time to time. Their otherworldly bodies are under a tremendous amount of stress and despite being the best conditioned for their specific craft, they are bound by the limitations of the human frame.

Don't get mad at me, it's just science.

It's super easy to understand why people are mad or concerned or just miserable. Diaz's unfortunate injury came during an extracurricular activity and will most hurt the team paying handsomely for his services. No one likes "shit happens" as an explanation but that doesn't stop shit from happening.

And one wouldn't be wrong if they pointed out there would be no opportunity to get injured in a euphoric dogpile because spring training is a place where the points literally don't matter. Had Diaz injured his arm pitching it wouldn't be as much a thing because that could also happen against the Colorado Rockies B Team.

But history is littered with baseball players who have gone down to freak happenstance. They've hurt themselves sneezing. Or putting on cowboy boots. Or allegedly during a surprise meeting with Kevin Costner. Or playing Guitar Hero to the point of disaster. They get hit with errant balls and fall down stairs. They are in car crashes, motorcycle crashes, or pickup basketball collisions. The list goes on and on and you get the idea.

There is inherent risk in both training for and performing in athletic competitions. No one denies this! So the question becomes: is the World Baseball Classic worth the risk?

For the MLB teams ponying up huge money, the answer is no. Unequivocally. But for the players themselves and everyone not in a specific front office, the answer is a resounding hell yeah. Throw a dart at Google and it returns big leaguers talking about how much fun they are having, how great the event is, and what representing their country means to them. These are all great things. It's okay to like things that are good.

The WBC is piece of lint compared to the way soccer's World Cup captures the globe's attention yet it's a different entry point for fans. American myopia dismisses what it means to the other participants. Is it really worth taking a bazooka out and obliterating something wonderful because a baseball tournament carries the risk of someone getting hurt doing baseball things?

If so, then why not put these dudes in bubble wrap until the postseason, if their teams make it, and deal with a load management problem that the NBA is desperate to solve? Make them all share a big bed like the Bucket family so no one trips or anything.

The last point on this, and the one I find particularly aggravating, is that Major League Baseball players get hurt somewhat routinely while celebrating. Celebrating, like, walk-off singles against a .400 team in mid-May.

Nothing was more predictable than having to deal with this debate that's not really a debate this morning. Collectively, we either suck as content creators or get sucked into topics even a mediocre producer would deem too stupid for the C-block.

To steal a line from the Hot Dog guy in I Think You Should Leave, we're so focused on fixing things that we don't even enjoy them anymore. So much so that it makes me think people think they have to get in on the discourse even if there's nothing to say. There's bold proclamations about disbanding an international competition with huge importance and flocking to the most drastic measures. When in reality, no one is truly that passionate and will move on to the next debate when it comes up an hour later.