The battle of words has stretched past the ballpark. Despite winning 5-2 against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, the New York Mets weren’t in a celebratory mood. Their closer, Edwin Diaz had been caught with sticky hands and, as a result, was immediately ejected from the field. However, despite a 10-day suspension, Diaz has continued to claim innocence. Now the crew chief, Vic Carapazza, has decided to call foul on these claims.

The suspension came at the worst time possible for the Mets. The team was finally going through a great patch, and Diaz was particularly returning to his best ways. Now they’ll be entering the Subway Series with one pitcher short and that could prove to be a huge issue for them. After the game, Diaz said, “I rub rosin, sweat, and I put my hand in the dirt a little bit because I need to have some grip on the ball,” but the umpire disagreed.

“I told him it’s too sticky and we have to take action,” Carapazza said. The umpire shared that Diaz’s hand was “extremely sticky,” and “discolored.” So, he had doubts. “It definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat,” Carapazza said. “We’ve checked 1000s of these. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky.” That certainly adds another shade to this situation.

But while Vic Carapazza has given his verdict, there are little to no signs of change in Edwin Diaz’s stance. The pitcher had already said before that he wouldn’t be changing his routine despite the suspension. “I will keep using the same thing because they didn’t find anything in my glove, my hat, my belt,” Diaz said, per New York Post.

However, while Diaz is sure of his innocence, as of now he’s suspended. And that is a major blow to the Mets right before the highly anticipated Subway Series and other subsequent games.

Will the New York Mets effectively deal with Edwin Diaz’s suspension?

Carlos Mendoza had a surprisingly accepting comment on the ejection. “Obviously, the rules are the rules,” Mendoza said. “MLB is doing what they’re doing because they have really good reasons, and we’ve got to stand by it.” This isn’t anything new for the Mets. Since 2021, the league has suspended eight players for “sticky substance” issues and three of them were from the Mets (Max Scherzer and Drew Smith being the other two).

That makes them the only team to have multiple players suspended by this rule. If Diaz accepts the suspension without appeal, he’ll be out until July 6. Subsequently, the Mets will be without their closer against the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Washington Nationals, and (partly) the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Mets won’t be able to replace him. As a result, they’ll be playing pitcher short in these important games.

For a team that is on the ascendant and looking to create a 6-man rotation in July, this could be a major blow. That’s why Diaz is disappointed in letting his “teammates down for 10 days.” Still, with the Subway Series set to begin on Tuesday, it’ll be interesting to see how the Mets cope with this untimely loss.