Musical Baseball Feud Started Between Teams On Opening Day

By Jennifer Asencio
| Published 11 seconds ago

Baseball’s opening weekend started on March 25, 2026, with teams all over the country showing off their newest players alongside longtime fan favorites. One player, Edwin Diaz, switched teams over the winter during the offseason, transferring from the New York Mets to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Dodgers’ production staff wasn’t going to let the Mets forget it.

Diaz is a closing relief pitcher, meaning he would get called in toward the end of the game. Since relief pitchers come from the bullpen, which is often in the outfield, it takes a minute or two to make the hike across the field to the pitcher’s mound. Almost every player has some clip of music the stadium plays when they come out to the field or up to bat, but relief pitchers have a unique opportunity to really draw the moment out since they can play a couple of minutes of a walk-on song.

Since his time on the Seattle Mariners in 2018, Diaz’s walk-on music has been the song “Narco,” by Timmy Trumpet. Its distinctive opening bars are used by other players around the league as they come to bat, but the song’s piercing trumpet melody was highlighted by Diaz’s long walk across the field. When Diaz joined the Mets in 2019, he switched to another song, but it didn’t vibe for him, and he had a bad season.

In 2020 he switched back to “Narco,” and it became his trademark as he rose to prominence as one of the sport’s most distinguished and feared relief pitchers. SNY director John DeMarsico, in charge of the Mets broadcasts at that time, filmed numerous takes on his entrance to the field, one notable one inspired by the movie Raging Bull. Unannounced, the broadcast failed to switch to commercial when they were supposed to so they could highlight Diaz’s majestic trot onto the field.

It became such a phenomenon that in 2022, Timmy Trumpet himself offered to come play “Narco” live during Diaz’s entrance.

This spectacle was a big hit with Mets fans, but was widely ridiculed by fans of other teams, notably rivals such as the Yankees, Braves, Phillies, and Dodgers. The Mets were criticized for making a big deal out of the song, as well as pouring so much attention and cinematic artistry into the show.

After missing the 2023 season, Diaz returned to the Mets to pitch for 2024 and 2025, both seasons resulting in heartbreak with a near-miss to the World Series followed by a terrible season in which the team dropped in a freefall from first to last. Many players whose contracts were under free agency jumped ship; Diaz ran to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He made his debut on March 28, 2026, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and sure enough, “Narco” was his walk-on music. This is hardly remarkable in itself; players usually take their walk-on songs with them from team to team. What was remarkable was the Dodgers’ presentation.

The team made no attempt to hide their show being a pale imitation of the Mets’ show, complete with a live but inferior trumpeter. As much ridicule as the Mets faced for the spectacle they made of Diaz and his entrance music, the Dodgers used the song, and the opportunity, to rub his loss in their faces. Diaz would go on to close the game for the Dodgers, striking out two during the eighth inning; the Dodgers did not need to play the bottom of the ninth.

By mimicking DeMarsico, who was released from SNY for “creative differences,” the Dodgers did manage to show that the director’s impact is still felt on a sport whose administrators want homogeneity. Rob Manfred, the Commissioner of Baseball, stated last season that he expects to have all regional baseball broadcasts under one banner by 2028. SNY was the most obviously distinct broadcast due to DeMarsico’s creativity, but other holdouts include the Dodger, Yankee, and San Francisco Giant broadcasts, each of which are directly owned by team interests.

It also put a spotlight on DeMarsico’s absence from the Mets. The SNY broadcast is noticeably absent the tricks and techniques the former director used to enhance the game, such as the “PitchCom Robot” and split-screen shots of the pitcher and batter as they face off.

The Dodgers, unlike the Mets, have been highly praised for the show and its inclusion of a live trumpeter, seeming to forget that the man who wrote the song already performed it for Diaz when he was a Met. This is pretty typical, though. The Mets don’t usually receive favorable commentary from MLB, while the Dodgers are one of its flagship teams.

So, the season started with a mic-drop from the Dodgers that was definitely meant for Mets fans. Team rivalries are one thing, but should be settled on the field, not with the baseball equivalent of an epic rap battle. Though it would be poetic justice if the Mets responded by knocking the Dodgers and Diaz out of the postseason and finally winning a World Series while blaring “Narco” all over the stadium.