NEW YORK — The Subway Series always creates a buzz around here, and the buildup to this year’s crosstown rivalry had a higher level of spice to it. Not only are the Yankees and Mets in first place in their divisions, but the Bronx’s biggest villain, Juan Soto, made his first trip back to Yankee Stadium since he jettisoned for Queens.
Yankees fans have waited for this day since early December. When the moment finally arrived, they packed out the house with the largest crowd (47,700) of the year, and then they let him hear it. The ear-splitting, guttural sounds were the loudest Soto had ever heard being directed at him. Still, he didn’t mind.
“You gotta embrace it,” Soto said after the Mets lost, 6-2, to the Yankees on Friday night. “At the end of the day, whatever they give you, it is what it is. You gotta be professional. You gotta take it like a man, and I was just enjoying the moment.”
It’s hard to hear the person sitting next to you in Yankee Stadium; that’s how deafening the pregame music is in the Bronx. But the boos that rained down on Soto when he took the field for pregame stretches overpowered even the Yankees’ soundsystem. The crowd booed again, and again, and again, and again, when his face popped up on the jumbotron during lineup introductions, and when he walked up to the plate in the top of the first inning.
Alas, Soto is nothing if not prepared. The former Yankees slugger responded to the vicious jeers by removing his helmet, tapping his chest, and saying “thank you” multiple times while wearing a wry smile. Soto knew what he was doing when he picked the Mets over the Yankees in free agency, a decision that was informed by the reception he would receive in the Bronx for the rest of his career.
“We were just joking in the dugout that I should do it, and I just did it,” Soto said of his hat-tip. “The guys loved it.”
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was proud of the way Soto handled being public enemy No. 1.
“He’s just very steady,” Mendoza said. “He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. He knew that this was coming. Like I told him a couple of days ago, embrace it. Try to enjoy every second of it, and just be yourself. And that’s what he did. I thought today he was the same guy. I thought he handled it really well. That’s what makes this guy who he is. Elite. His personality is off the charts.”
While he may not have enjoyed breaking Yankees fans’ hearts, Soto seemed to relish their hatred of him. He smiled every time he walked from the dugout to the plate, all the while continuing to be serenaded by acrimony. Yankees fans came prepared, too, with a fan holding a sign that said “Boo this man!” under a picture of a smug-looking Soto in a Mets uniform slapped onto white paper. Another sign read: “22 looks better on Ben Rice.”
When Soto jogged out to right field to take his position in the bottom of the first inning, the section of fans behind him, dubbed the Bleacher Creatures, turned their backs on him, not even acknowledging his presence. Perhaps the gesture was a metaphor for Soto turning his back on the Yankees when he chose to rep Queens. Moments later, “We have Grisham!” chants broke out in right field, alluding to the Yankees’ acquisition of outfielder Trent Grisham as part of the Soto trade.
“I didn’t realize that,” Soto said when asked if he saw fans turning their backs towards him. “I was just listening to the boos. Didn’t have any eye contact. Just listened to the boos.”
If the crowd’s point was to convey that the first-place Yankees were doing just fine without Soto, the Bronx Bombers backed up that conviction by forcing Mets starter Tylor Megill to exit his outing after 72 pitches in the third inning. The Yankees batted around the order and scored four runs as Megill lost his command and permitted a season-high five walks in the third.
Soto had a chance to limit the damage from his former team when Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe hit a routine fly ball to shallow right with two outs in the third. Soto caught the ball, but didn’t make his best throw home, and the two-hopper to the dish was too slow to beat Cody Bellinger, who scored the third run of the inning for the Yankees.
For his part at the plate, Soto wasn’t fazed by the noise. He drew a walk in each of his three plate appearances against Yankees right-hander Carlos Rodon. The Mets entered Friday with the tenth highest-scoring offense in the major leagues, but they didn’t do enough behind Soto’s free passes to make a comeback against their crosstown rivals.
“It was loud,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the crowd. “That’s what makes this place unique. I thought they were very respectful, and that’s what you want. You can boo all you want and all that, but as long as they’re not crossing the line.”
Just over six months ago, Soto was treated like a king in the Bronx.
He hit 41 home runs, a career high, before taking the Yankees to the World Series for the first time in 15 years. He formed one of the deadliest duos in Major League Baseball history, hitting in front of Aaron Judge. He was beloved by the Yankees fan base, who bought Soto’s No. 22 jersey and showed up in droves to watch him play in pinstripes for one year. All he had to do to get the keys to the city was stay.
But Soto didn’t just leave, he found a new home less than 10 miles away. The 26-year-old signed a 15-year, $765-million contract with the Mets, the largest deal in professional sports history. For Yankees fans who are used to getting what they want, Soto’s decision to play for a Mets franchise known as “the little brother” to the Bombers was a personal offense. So they booed and booed and booed.
Even so, the bat in Soto’s hand represented an opportunity to silence the noise. The Mets, trailing the Yankees by four runs, had runners on second and third with two outs in the ninth against Yankees closer Luke Weaver when Soto came up to the plate. One swing could’ve cut their deficit to one run. One more walk would’ve loaded the bases for Pete Alonso, who then would have represented the tying run.
But, on the second pitch of the at-bat, Weaver got Soto to fly out to shallow center field to deliver a Yankees win. Even though the booing finally stopped, Soto wasn’t smiling anymore.
“It’s uncomfortable that we couldn’t get the win,” Soto said. “I don’t focus, at all, on the fans. We gotta focus on the game and be a professional, trying to win the game. Yeah, it sucks that we lost the game. But we have two more to win the series.”
And two more games for Yankees fans to let Soto know how they feel. Maybe next time the new Mets slugger will let his bat do the talking.
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. Follow her on X at @DeeshaThosar.
Juan Soto
New York Mets
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