Dodgers' surprising Edwin Dìaz IL move can only mean 1 of 2 things

If there's such a thing as a race to the bottom when you're playing on the best team in baseball, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz are clearly in the lead. The outfielder looks completely checked out both at the plate in the field as he suffers through the worst season of his career, while the closer hasn't gotten through two consecutive outings without allowing a run since early April.

Diaz in particular is hitting rock bottom in real time, allowing six runs over his past 2.2 innings, including three of them in a blowout victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday. He's now up to a 12.91 ERA since being activated off the 60-day injured list in late July, following a three-month hiatus stemming from elbow surgery.

And so, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the Los Angeles Dodgers have seen enough for now: They're sending their $69 million closer back to the IL, per Katie Woo of The Athletic.

Thus, we're left with an obvious question to ask: Is this injury real or fake?

Edwin Diaz is taking a convenient trip to the injured list that reeks of a phantom designation

If you're team real, the first place you're looking is Diaz's physical breakdown on the mound. His velocity wasn't too far out of whack agains the Rockies -- in fact, his average fastball velocity (96.6 mph) was higher than his yearly average -- but spin rates and break can tell us a lot about how a pitcher is feeling.

And wouldn't you know it, his four-seamer generated 33% less induced vertical break than usual in Colorado, due in part to the fact that he was throwing it with 61 fewer rotations per minute (rpm) than average. Likewise, his slider was moving less horizontally and featured 48 rpm less than usual.

You can definitely chalk some of that up to the altitude in the Mile High City as well as the low-leverage situation Diaz was put in (adrenaline is real, folks), but whatever is ailing him clearly impacted his raw stuff on Monday night.

However, the fact that I have to say "whatever is ailing him" at all is a strong argument in favor of team phantom IL. The Dodgers have yet to confirm what the injury is, suggesting that this probably doesn't have to do with his surgically repaired elbow.

Snarkier fans will say that the head is part of the upper body, which is both true and an apt description of what might really be bothering Diaz at the moment. Whether it's the yips, the pressure of being the closer on a team with three-peat aspirations, or his off-the-field legal issues, it's not hard to imagine that there's a big mental roadblock he's fighting to get over.

But regardless of if it's fake or real, the result is the Dodgers will be without their nominal closer for a while longer. His role and availability for the postseason are now in flux, once again putting the pressure on the rest of the relief corps to step up and lock games down.

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