Which closer has the better entrance, Phillies’ Jhoan Duran or Mets’ Edwin Diaz? A tale of the tape.

After trading for Jhoan Duran, the Phillies finally have a closer — one who can compete with the heavy hitters with everything from his fastball velocity to his epic entrance.

But with the Mets — and Edwin Diaz, the original viral sensation — coming into town for a four-game stint, how does Duran’s entrance measure up against his National League East counterpart’s?

We conducted a completely scientific and mathematical study of which entrance is better. Here’s what we found …

Diaz’s entrance first went ultra-viral in 2022 with the Mets, but he has used “Narco” as his walkout song off and on since 2018, when he was still with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners wanted to give Diaz a big entrance, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and pitched “Narco” as one of a few song choices. He ditched the song after he was traded to New York in 2019, but after a disastrous season, he brought it back in 2020.

Over the years, the sights, sounds, and overall production value surrounding Diaz’s entrance have only gotten bigger and better.

Jhoan Duran didn’t make his MLB debut until 2022, and the Twins introduced his entrance on Aug. 5, 2022, before he’d even become the full-time closer. You can’t blame him for not being first since Diaz had such a head start in the league, but …

Advantage: Diaz

Duran’s entrance, oddly enough, first went viral because the Mets’ local SNY broadcasters, who regularly earned viral attention for Diaz’s walkout, showcased the Twins closer’s entrance on their coverage in 2023 during a road series in Minnesota.

The video picked up thousands of interactions and more than 4 million views.

Since the trade to the Phillies, the team continues to upgrade and add audience participation elements to Duran’s entrance. And as national broadcasters get their chance to air the entrance, and see if firsthand, it just keeps going viral.

Of course, Diaz’s entrance has gone viral time and time again since 2022, when it first exploded onto the scene and turned “Narco” into a staple at every sporting event in the world. Diaz’s (and SNY’s) viral success has become the standard to which all other closer entrances are compared.

Advantage: Diaz

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Duran’s entrance is approximately one minute long. The videos generally average anywhere from 50 seconds to 1 minute, 10 seconds in length, depending on when you stop filming. Diaz’s entrance is also a little over a minute long.

But there’s a major difference.

A common sentiment in the comments on some of the Duran videos is that the Phillies start his song too late. And it’s true. By the time the song really gets into gear, Duran’s already at the mound having his glove inspected. The Mets start the song as Diaz is exiting the bullpen, so fans are getting the trumpets while he jogs out, which is also what the Twins used to do for Duran in Minnesota.

You’ll notice in the video above that the bells begin while Duran is still warming up, but in his more recent entrances with the Phillies, they begin as he jogs onto the field.

If the Phillies can figure out better timing, this one might go the other way. But for now …

Advantage: Diaz

Both teams have a pretty big light show involved — one fan even took a video of Diaz’s entrance from a plane landing at nearby LaGuardia airport, the lights were so bright. (Have any Phillies fans been able to see this happen for Duran yet?) But for Diaz, the Mets have generally eschewed a big graphics package.

The Phillies, on the other hand, have not shied away from big scoreboard graphics for Duran’s entrance, featuring flames and animated spiders, inspired by his “Durantula” nickname. (You might also note that the below entrance took place several weeks after the video above, and it appears the Phillies are getting better with the timing of when Duran exits the bullpen.)

Advantage: Duran

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Duran uses a custom remix of “El Incomprendido” by Farruko and “Hot” by Pitbull and Daddy Yankee. Diaz uses “Narco” by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet. It’s hard to do a one-to-one comparison of Spotify streams before and after, since Duran’s is a remix, but “El Incomprendido” has over 200 million streams to “Narco’s” over 100 million.

The real question is whether the Phillies can get any of the artists to perform it live …

Your preference here might simply come down to which team you root for — or which song you prefer — but with nearly twice as many Spotify streams, we’ll give Duran the nod.

Advantage: Duran

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How much does the entrance actually help power these pitchers up at home, as opposed to on the road when they don’t get their custom entrances?

Surprisingly, Diaz actually has done slightly better on the road in 2025, pitching to a 1.74 ERA on the road and a 1.89 ERA at home. But in 2024, he pitched to an abysmal 5.96 ERA on the road and a 3.52 ERA at home, and in 2022, he pitched to a 1.31 ERA at home and a 2.13 ERA on the road. Diaz is striking out 40.4% of batters at home, and 35% on the road in 2025.

In 2025, Duran is striking out 27.7% of batters at home, and 26.8% on the road. He’s pitching to a 1.73 ERA at home and a 2.10 ERA on the road in 2025, but in 2024, the difference was much more stark — 2.45 ERA at home vs. a 5.04 ERA on the road.

The stats suggest both players benefit from their dramatic entrances.

Advantage: Draw

Overall winner: Diaz, 3.5-2.5