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Edwin Díaz made his first appearance since April 19 on Wednesday night, earning the save in the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners. The Dodgers activated the right-hander from the 60-day injured list before the game after he completed his recovery from a procedure to remove loose bodies in his elbow, per Dodger Blue.

Díaz said after the outing that he went back and reviewed his fastball following the appearance. That kind of self-scouting is exactly what you want to see from a veteran reliever coming back from an extended absence. He hasn’t pitched in a major league game in over three months, so there’s naturally going to be some rust — but the fact that he came in and nailed down the save right away is encouraging.

For those who need a refresher: the Dodgers acquired Díaz before the 2025 season, banking on his elite stuff to anchor the back end of the bullpen. When he’s right, the former Mets closer is one of the most dominant relievers in baseball. His slider remains a legitimate swing-and-miss weapon, and at his peak with the Mets in 2022, he posted a 1.31 ERA with 118 strikeouts in 62 innings — numbers that earned him a five-year deal. The problem has been health. Between his knee injury in 2023 and now the elbow procedure that cost him most of the first half of this season, availability has been the ongoing question with Díaz.

Getting him back now, right at the trade deadline, is significant. The Dodgers have been patching together late-inning roles while Díaz, Blake Treinen, and Tyler Glasnow have all been working their way back from various injuries. With Treinen and Glasnow also recently facing hitters in their own rehab progressions, the bullpen picture is starting to look a lot more complete than it did even a week ago.

I’ll be watching Díaz’s velocity and command closely over his next few outings. The loose body removal isn’t typically a long-term concern, but the layoff was substantial. If his fastball is sitting where it should and the slider has its usual bite, this bullpen gets a real closer again — and that changes the math on what we need to add before the deadline. A healthy Díaz, combined with the other arms filtering back, gives the Dodgers one of the deeper relief corps in the National League without making a single trade.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: July 31, 2026 6:21 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers