by Cary Osborne
In the years since Kenley Jansen left via free agency after the 2021 season, the Dodgers have had three different relievers lead the team in saves — Craig Kimbrel, Evan Phillips and Tanner Scott.
And typically, the Dodgers have gone into the last four seasons without declaring one person as the closer.
Now they have that definitive closer in Edwin Díaz, who was introduced as a Dodger at a press conference on Friday after signing a three-year contract.
When asked if it was safe to say that Díaz is the Dodger closer, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Gomes said: “Correct.”
“For us, we have a high bar. To name someone the closer, you have to be one of the best,” added Andrew Friedman, President of Baseball Operations. “You have to be dominant and elite at what you do. Sugar (Edwin Díaz) is that.”
Friedman and Gomes pointed to Díaz’s willingness to take the ball in any situation, his postseason track record and his regular-season dominance as some of the qualities that make the right-hander not just the Dodgers’ new closer but one of the best in the Majors since he debuted with Seattle in 2016.
Díaz’s 253 saves rank tied-for-second in the Majors to Jansen’s 334 since 2016. He ranks first in strikeouts-per-nine innings (14.6) and strikeouts (839), sixth in WHIP (1.04) and seventh in ERA (2.82). Díaz is a three-time Reliever of the Year (2018 American League Mariano Rivera Award and 2022 and 2025 National League Trevor Hoffman Award).
He has a 2.38 ERA in eight career postseason appearances, including three scoreless appearances against the Dodgers in the 2024 National League Championship Series.
“The ninth inning is a big responsibility,” Díaz said. “The ball is in your hand for the last three outs of the game, and I think they are the toughest three outs in the game. Personally, I take it nice and easy. I take it batter by batter, go pitch by pitch to complete the inning. … At the end of the day, if I get my job done, we’ll be in a good position. If I don’t get my job done, we are in trouble. So every time I have a chance to pitch, I always think I will win.”
Díaz, a fan favorite for six seasons in New York (a closer with a crowd-inspiring, up-tempo walk-out song), said it was difficult to leave the Mets. But there was a reason why Los Angeles was the choice and why he signed a three-year contract with the Dodgers.
“I chose the Dodgers because they are a winning organization,” Díaz said. “I’m looking to win, and I think they have everything to win. So picking the Dodgers was pretty easy.”
Díaz’s brother Alexis played for the Dodgers in 2025 and appeared in nine games out of the bullpen. Edwin said Alexis had great things to say about the organization. Alexis finished 2025 in the Braves organization.
Now Edwin gets to experience being a Dodger. And his presence gives the Dodgers more flexibility and potential matchup troubles for opponents throughout the later innings. Included in the group of Dodgers relievers are Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia (among others). Those three relievers had sub-2.00 ERAs in 2024.
“You have Edwin at the back, and then Dave (Roberts) and Mark (Prior) and Connor (McGuiness), they have the ability to deploy the rest of the pen as they need,” Gomes said. “We have a lot of guys that pitch in many different situations, and we have the ability to really shorten the game if a starter doesn’t go six or seven. Obviously, that’s always the preference, but we know that’s not the world we live in. So (we have the ability) to have really highly talented guys that have pitched in those middle innings before leading up to Edwin in the ninth, which there are no matchups you’re concerned about.”
Sounds the trumpets: Edwin Díaz steps in as Dodger closer was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.