A Soto-tally Special Subway Series
Juan Soto's return to the Bronx will be one to remember.
Tomorrow is a day New York baseball will remember forever.
Make no mistake about it — it’s special because of one thing.
Juan Soto.
Juan Soto knew this day would happen. He knew from the moment he swiped pen to paper for $765 million, the largest contract in North American sports history, to play for the cross-town rivals of his former team.
This was not by mistake — the Mets’ offseason of Juan Soto was through a detailed, organized, and planned pursuit that has been uncovered greatly up until this point. There was not another free agent to be had — at that level of production — who just turned 26 years-old.
With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. getting his $500 million contract extension last month, there’s not another player worth emptying the tank (to that level) until Paul Skenes’ potential free agency in 2030. It’s going to be awhile — and there’s no guarantee we’ll see another offseason, in terms of hype, like that ever again.
A verdict on which team was better off after Soto’s signing may not be reached until a World Series championship banner is raised. Sure, we can compare Juan Soto’s numbers to the collective package of Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger, but that can be easily cherrypicked in terms of impact on a team.
The real goal is a championship. Whoever gets that first can have the last laugh.
Return on Investment
Regarding Juan Soto being back in the Bronx, it’ll be a feeling he hasn’t experienced in his returns twice before — an unwelcome one.
Juan Soto has returned twice, technically three times, to play against his former teams — once as a member of the San Diego Padres against the Washington Nationals on August 13th, 2022, and once as a member of the New York Yankees to play against the San Diego Padres on May 24th, 2024.
Tomorrow, he returns to the New York Yankees as a member of the New York Mets.
Juan Soto spent his first four and a half seasons with the Washington Nationals before being traded to the San Diego Padres in 2022. They got a haul for him in return: C.J. Abrams MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, James Wood, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit.
Soto returned 10 days later to play against them.
His original return back to the nation’s capital was not an easy one.
“The first time I got traded, it really hurt big time. I’ve said it before but I cried the whole morning….(Washington) was the team that gave me a chance from when I was a little kid. They saw me when I was 15 years old. They saw me grow up. I grew through the organization. I felt the best in that organization.” — Juan Soto
I don’t think they’ll be as much heartfelt words for the Yankees tomorrow.
Soto did damage again when he faced Washington a year later — once he was fully acquainted with San Diego and the Nationals emotionally had moved on.
Soto had a three-hit night including a home run to pad the Padres lead.
There’s a pattern here.
In Juan Soto return games, he’s done damage.
For a further example, in Soto’s 2024 return to San Diego with the Yankees — he crushed this home run in only his second at-bat back.
When the Yankees traded for Juan Soto, they gave up a haul, too: Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, and Drew Thorpe, and Kyle Higashioka. Revisionist history would tell you to think twice, but the Yankees did get to a World Series. They just didn’t finish the job — where Juan Soto’s likelihood of staying would’ve increased.
That’s why I’m not sure we’ll ever have an end to the narrative in New York about which team is better off with, or without, Juan Soto.
This Subway Series will hopefully give a little bit of clarity to that answer.
While the main topic is Juan Soto — it’s hard to ignore what both Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso have done. Unfairly linked for many years due to Alonso breaking Judge’s rookie record in 2019, the two are finally about as equal as they may get for a Subway Series.
While Pete Alonso will never be Aaron Judge — it’s going to be yet another narrative to watch, as both compete for their respective MVP’s. You can just about lock in Aaron Judge for the award now, but Pete Alonso is making his case.
One thing is for sure — there’s no shortage of storylines around this Subway Series.
For both fanbases, they have to remind themselves that it’s just three regular season games — but this is what sports are all about.
Grit. Energy. Emotion. Rivalry.
The two top teams in their divisions.
This Subway Series should have it all.