From “Narco” to “oh no,” in an instant.
There was a moment Wednesday night when the Fox Sports cameras captured Francisco Lindor crouching in the infield of Miami’s loanDepot Park, the familiar smile wiped off his face, shaking his head as Edwin Diaz sat crumpled on the turf holding his right knee.
That is all of us — Mets fans, baseball fans, fans of fun and exceptional things in sports — this morning.
Ya can’t believe it. But ya gotta.
Diaz, the Mets’ all-world closer, injured his right knee in the celebration after closing out Puerto Rico’s 5-2 win over the Dominican Republic — he struck out the side on filthy sliders, of course — to reach the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.
As Puerto Rico teammates surrounded him to mosh in jubilation, Diaz crumpled to the ground. He was unable to stand. An initial attempt to carry him off the field was abandoned. He was transferred to a wheelchair, and pumped his fist to the crowd as he was rolled into the tunnel.
The Mets said Diaz would receive testing on the knee on Thursday.
No one knows better than Lindor, the Puerto Rico captain and the unofficial Mets captain, what a serious injury — if the letters ACL didn’t immediately flash through your head, you have more restraint than I do — would mean for World Series hopes in Queens.
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It’s the juxtaposition that makes it especially cruel, harsher than the typical bodily carnage that is part of the routine of following big-time sports.
Not a minute before, Diaz was putting the finishing touches on an electric and taut baseball game, better than anything you’ll get before September, let alone in mid-March. He was smiling when the Dominican hitters had the gall to make contact against him, fouling off a pitch. Then he was in the happy embrace of his team when the nasty injury occurred.
That Diaz was on that mound for love and not money, with his compatriot brothers and his literal brother, ought to be the kind of thing that gets celebrated.
Instead: The Post’s Mike Vaccaro, in his always elegant way, writes that Diaz’s injury is a swinging strike for the World Baseball Classic.
It’s not exactly right to say this could only happen to the Mets. Another team’s star player could have been injured in a post-game dogpile. But it did happen to the Mets, and now we wait to find out the damage.
Today’s back pages
From the early editions…
From the late editions after Diaz’s potentially devastating knee injury…
Read more:
🏈 SERBY: Jets’ Aaron Rodgers task is simple now: Close the deal
🏈 VACCARO: Aaron Rodgers can shut up Woody Johnson’s Jets critics
⚾ O’CONNOR: Justin Verlander, Aaron Rodgers taking leaps of New York faith that can enhance legacies
⚾ HEYMAN: Yankees’ Aaron Judge striving for secret goals he ‘missed’ during historic season
Making sense of this year’s NCAA Tournament bracket
The First Four is finished. Now the NCAA Tournament truly begins.
When No. 8 Maryland and No. 9 West Virginia tip off today at 12:15 p.m. ET, the greatest postseason in sports officially will be underway.
Unfortunately, your bracket is already on the verge of destruction. After last year’s tournament saw No. 15 Saint Peter’s reach the Elite Eight and No. 8 North Carolina nearly win the national title, this year’s edition offers similar optimism for several Cinderellas.
There is no heavy favorite, but a deep collection of flawed contenders attempting to string six strong performances together. Only one of the 1-seeds has ever won the national championship — Kansas is attempting to become the first team in 16 years to win back-to-back championships — while none of the 2-seeds has won the national title this century.
In the past three NCAA Tournaments, I’ve correctly predicted two national champions and four of the six finalists. I also watched a championship pick ruined on Day 1, when the Peacocks stunned Kentucky in overtime in the first round last year.
The good news is this year can’t go any worse. Here is my redemption bracket and how it came to be:
Will there be another Saint Peter’s?
Probably not. Probably not for decades. We’ll be lucky to see a 15-seed win another game in this decade. Still, several mid-majors have hope of making a run. Today, I expect No. 12 Charleston to knock off No. 5 San Diego State and No. 13 Furman to down Virginia with both underdogs’ strong attacks taking the slower-paced favorites out of their comfort zones.
The Charleston-Furman second-round matchup would ensure a double-digit seed will reach the Sweet 16 for the 15th straight year and 36th time in the past 38.
Will there be another North Carolina?
Probably not. But there are multiple overlooked power-conference candidates who have chances to go deep. The wide-open East Region provides hope for talented teams such as No. 6 Kentucky or No. 7 Michigan State to break through, but I believe No. 7 Texas A&M was the most badly under-seeded team in the tournament.
The Aggies are excellent on both ends of the floor, and have lost just twice since the start of February, including picking up a win over the most talented team in the field (Alabama). Buzz Williams is a tough out in the Dance — he’s reached the Sweet 16 four times — and the team gained valuable postseason experience reaching the NIT title game last year.
Which No. 1 seed is most vulnerable?
Purdue. Zach Edey, the 7-foot-4 center and National Player of the Year, doesn’t have enough consistent support, and it has been weeks since the Boilermakers looked the part of a title contender.
I have them losing to No. 5 Duke in the Sweet 16, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Boilermakers bow out in the Round of 32.
Which Final Four selection came hardest?
Before every Selection Sunday, I have a rough idea of the teams I might put in the Final Four. I cannot recall having so many of those candidates lumped together in the bracket, as this year’s West Region did. No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 4 UConn are top-10 teams, and No. 6 TCU has the build of a team that can beat any in the nation.
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It took me 30 seconds to pick Alabama as the winner of a soft South region. I edited the outcomes of the West region countless times before deciding UConn’s balance and rebounding would put the Huskies in the Final Four for the first time in nine years.
Which Final Four selection surprised me the most?
Duke. I didn’t plan to put the Blue Devils in the Final Four during Jon Scheyer’s first season as head coach, but a favorable draw — featuring a potential matchup with the weakest 1-seed and de facto home games at Madison Square Garden for the second week of the tournament — has Duke in a strong position to reach a second straight Final Four.
The team’s young talent has gotten healthy and come together down the stretch, winning nine straight games to become one of the scariest 5-seeds in recent memory.
Who will win it all?
Alabama. Surprises in the tournament come often, but they largely come early. The end is somewhat predictable. A No. 1 seed has won each of the past five national championships, as well as all but three of the past 15 titles.
At their best, the Crimson Tide are the best team in the country, featuring an explosive offense, lockdown defense and a deep bench. It may be uneasy watching SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller — who investigators say provided a gun to former teammate Darius Miles that was used in an alleged murder in December, but has not been charged with a crime — but the All-American is the best bet of any player to take over the tournament and lead Alabama basketball to its first national title.
— Howie Kussoy
Today’s schedule:
12:15 p.m. ET, CBS: No. 8 Maryland (+2.5) vs. No. 9 West Virginia
12:40 p.m. ET, truTV: No. 4 Virginia (-6.5) vs. No. 13 Furman
1:40 p.m. ET, TNT: No. 7 Missouri (+1.5) vs. No. 10 Utah State
2:00 p.m. ET, TBS: No. 1 Kansas (-21.5) vs. No. 16 Howard
2:45 p.m. ET, CBS: No. 1 Alabama (-24.5) vs. No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
3:10 p.m. ET, truTV: No. 5 San Diego State (-5.5) vs. No. 12 College of Charleston
4:10 p.m. ET, TNT: No. 2 Arizona (-14.5) vs. No. 15 Princeton
4:30 p.m. ET, TBS: No. 8 Arkansas (-1.5) vs. No. 9 Illinois
6:50 p.m. ET, TNT: No. 8 Iowa (+1.5) vs. No. 9 Auburn
7:10 p.m. ET, CBS: No. 5 Duke (-6.5) vs. No. 12 Oral Roberts
7:25 p.m. ET, TBS: No. 2 Texas (-13.5) vs. No. 15 Colgate
7:35 p.m. ET, truTV: No. 7 Northwestern (-1.5) vs. No. 10 Boise State
9:20 p.m. ET, TNT: No. 1 Houston (-18.5) vs. No. 16 Northern Kentucky
9:40 p.m. ET, CBS: No. 4 Tennessee (-11.5) vs. No. 13 Louisiana
9:55 p.m. ET, TBS: No. 7 Texas A&M (-3.5) vs. No. 10 Penn State
10:05 p.m. ET, truTV: No. 2 UCLA (-17.5) vs. No. 15 UNC Asheville
The Aaron Rodgers show
OK, so at least that’s finally over with.
After delivering a soliloquy covering the past three years and acting at multiple points as if he would not actually say what he was going to do, Aaron Rodgers finally made himself clear on Wednesday.
“Since Friday, I made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The Jets still need to agree with the Packers on trade terms, but for all intents and purposes, the suspense here is over.
It only took, uh, well, let’s just not talk about how long it took.
What is worth discussing, though, is the potential fallout from this completely absurd process, in which Rodgers has put himself at the center of everything, reportedly gave the Jets a “wish list” of potential new teammates and forced everyone to sit on their hands and wait for him.
There will be no hard feelings in Jets-land if Rodgers can get them to the Promised Land. That much goes without saying. If Rodgers delivers a Lombardi Trophy to 1 Jets Drive, he can host a rally with Robert Kennedy Jr. in the MetLife Stadium parking lot for all anyone cares.
And since a first Super Bowl title since 1969 is a distinct possibility with Rodgers under center, the Jets put up with this.
That said, we’ve seen before what can happen when an organization puts its trust in a quarterback to the point of giving him power over the general manager and putting him on a pedestal above his teammates.
When the Jets do eventually agree to compensation with the Packers, it might be best for them to use Denver’s trade for Russell Wilson as a blueprint of what not to give up. And when Rodgers gets to the facility in Florham Park, it might be best for the Jets to use the Broncos’ treatment of Wilson as a blueprint for what not to do.
Rodgers, without having played a down in green and white, may already be on thin ice with fans.
If all of this waiting — and the three-day lag (so far) in the Jets’ having a clear roster picture in free agency because of it — results in Rodgers struggling, he will become Public Enemy No. 1 in New York faster than you can say “darkness retreat.”
He already has tested the fan base’s patience. Everyone involved was willing to deal with the wait now because they know Rodgers can end the wait that matters.
The dynamic will change the instant anyone starts to question the latter assumption.
And the last thing anyone needs is for Rodgers to devote another hour on McAfee’s program a year from now to explaining what went wrong in New York.
— Ethan Sears
St. John’s is back in the NCAA Tournament
For the first time since 2016, the St. John’s women’s basketball team will play in the NCAA tournament. And in Joe Tartamella’s 11 seasons as head coach, he felt this group was the most deserving recipient of a postseason bid of them all.
The Red Storm started 13-0. They even knocked off then-No. 4 UConn. After a “difficult road the past few years,” including back-to-back losing seasons, Tartamella tried to have the program’s postseason expectations remain the same — and understand that individual wins on their own were great, but there was a deeper, longer-term goal that required those to string together.
But even after their marquee win in Storrs on Feb. 21, though, the postseason, and their First Four game against Purdue on Thursday, was far from guaranteed. The Red Storm lost to Marquette in their first Big East tournament game, and eight days of waiting — watching how the other dominoes fell — began.
“It was awful,” Tartamella said. He didn’t know what to do. His son kept asking him if the Red Storm were “gonna get drafted,” and Tartamella tried to distract players from the looming bracket reveal by practicing and keeping them together.
Then, St John’s saw its name on the television screen, and genuine excitement followed.
“Sometimes you see those [celebrations on the broadcast] and they’re kinda like fake ones,” Tartamella said. “But like their stuff was real.”
— Andrew Crane
An NFL media mystery
For the past several years, there was an enduring mystery among sports media professionals: Who is Dov Kleiman, the NFL Twitter aggregator who felt ubiquitous but seemingly left no digital paper trail beyond his NFL tweets?
The question came to a head earlier this week when star Jets wideout Garrett Wilson cited Kleiman’s tweet (which Kleiman had repurposed with attribution from Trey Wingo) as his cue that a still-not-completed Aaron Rodgers trade to Gang Green had been finalized. Criticism of Kleiman came pouring in from all corners of Twitter, and the top-rated WFAN morning program “Boomer & Gio” questioned who Kleiman was and how his Twitter following grew to 150,000 when he provided no original content.
The Post reached out to Kleiman and got his perspective on his secretive social media rise and the backlash he was receiving, and Kleiman agreed to send the first photos of himself that have ever been publicized.
— Ryan Glasspiegel
