Toward the end of last season and into a postseason run where the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance since 2009, the affection between the fans and All-Star outfielder Juan Soto was evident and highlighted by daily “re-sign Soto” chants.
Six weeks after the Yankees lost Game 5 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Soto joined the New York Mets on a record-setting 15-year, $765 million contract.
Ever since Soto signed, his first trip back to Yankee Stadium has been anticipated. It arrives Friday night when the Mets visit the Yankees for the opener of a three-game series between division leaders that also coincides with the New York Knicks hosting the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals.
Soto is hitting .255 with eight homers and 20 RBIs, and he’s 13-for-45 (.289) in his past 12 games after hitting .241 in the first month of the season. He has batted second in the order between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso for every game except Wednesday, when he was given the night off for a rainy 4-0 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
“It’s going to be fun,” Soto said of the Yankees series after the Mets were blanked for the second time this season. “It’s going to be good. We’re going to have a good time.”
For the most part, the Mets are enjoying a good time. After taking the World Series champion Dodgers to six games in the 2024 NLCS, they have been in first place every day since April 11 and are 6-3 in their past nine games.
After Soto rejected the Yankees’ 16-year, $760 million offer, the team used some of the money to sign starting pitcher Max Fried and seven-time All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP. The Yankees acquired two-time All-Star outfielder Cody Bellinger, the 2019 NL MVP, in a trade.
They give the lineup some more depth beyond six-time All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge, the 2022 and 2024 American League MVP who is leading the major leagues with a .412 batting average, 15 homers and 41 RBIs.
“I think it’ll be really exciting for the fan bases,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “especially all that’s going on in New York right now with the Knicks hopefully on the verge of a series win and us playing the Mets and all that goes with that. Hopefully, the weather is good and it provides for an exciting weekend for our city.”
Judge’s performance is helping the Yankees to the biggest lead among any division leader. His latest homer helped the defending AL champions get a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in the finale of a six-game road trip. Judge hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning after Goldschmidt hit his second career pinch-hit homer in the seventh.
Soto’s first at-bat of his return will be against Carlos Rodon (4-3, 3.29 ERA), who is 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA over his past five starts. Rodon took his second straight no-decision Saturday when he allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings of an 11-7 loss to the Athletics. Soto is 0-for-2 with a walk against Rodon.
The left-hander is 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in two starts against the Mets, whom he held to one run one four hits in 5 2/3 innings for his first win as a Yankee on July 26, 2023.
Tylor Megill (3-3, 3.10), who is 0-1 with a 6.19 ERA over his past three starts, gets the ball for the Mets. Megill took the loss on Saturday when he tied a season-high by allowing four runs to go along with seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 6-5 home loss to the Chicago Cubs.
Megill won his only previous start against the Yankees on Sept. 10, 2021, when he struck out 10 and allowed two runs in seven innings of a 10-3 win.
–Field Level Media
