Discuss @Alex Richards latest article here
Gabriel Bethlen was forty-nine when he died. That's not a bad innings for the time, but I do wonder- if he'd licked his wounds for another few years only to see the Emperor reel under the Swedish assault, could that have finally been an opportune enough moment for Transylvania to make a serious bid for Hungary?
The Ottomans would have been too distracted by the Safavids for the full sixty thousand strong intervention, but they might have been tempted to send some kind of force- especially since the Hapsburgs would be fighting on multiple fronts themselves.
For me one of the interesting things highlighted here is the potential effect on Spain. If the war is finished earlier or they otherwise commit less they could presumably hang on to Portugal, at least for a while longer, and in general be a much stronger force for much longer.