Every great baseball team knows it takes a “next man up” mentality to get through the 162-game season. On Friday night, a future star sat in the Great American Ballpark visitors’ clubhouse, waiting for its moment to shine: Edwin Díaz’s backup cleats. When the cleats entered the 5-4 game, the Reds had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning; minutes later, the cleats were gracing the first base bag to record the final out of the Mets’ most nerve-wracking win of the season.

It wasn’t always supposed to be this way. Earlier in the evening, the Mets appeared to be cruising to a clean win in Cincinnati. The offense got off to a scalding start, scoring three runs in the top of the first on three singles, a walk, and a Brandon Nimmo sacrifice fly that would have been a ho

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