Circle May 16 on your calendars, baseball fans.
That’s the day New York Mets—and former New York Yankees—superstar Juan Soto will play in his first game at Yankee Stadium in a Mets uniform since departing the Bronx for the Queens via free agency and a record contract this offseason.
And Soto, when asked about what he expects to hear from Yankees fans that day, said he is “expecting the worst” from the Bronx Bombers’ scorned fanbase.
“You know Yankees fans, they can surprise you with anything,” Soto told Max Goodman of NJ Advance Media following the 6-6 tie with the Yankees in the Mets’ spring training finale on Monday. “So I’m expecting the worst.”
Soto received an appetizer from Yankees fans who attended Monday’s spring training game at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as some loud boos could be heard, along with some cheers from Mets fans, when his name was announced for his first at-bat of the afternoon.
Soto was acquired by the Yankees in a seven-player trade with the San Diego Padres in December of ’24. From his first public comments as a Yankee, the Dominican Republic slugger made it clear that he intended to test the free agent market after the conclusion of the ’24 campaign. Though Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, as well as star slugger Aaron Judge, both expressed the hope that Soto’s debut season in the Bronx would be successful enough to convince him to stay long-term.
Batting ahead of Judge in the Yankees lineup, Soto authored the best season of his career and finished third in the American League MVP voting. He helped lead the Yankees to their first AL pennant since ’09, but the club was defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
After the Fall Classic, an all-business Soto immediately began fielding questions about his free agency. After weeks of rumors and meetings with the likes of the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, Soto shocked the sports world and inked a record, $765 million contract with the Mets.
Yankees fans felt jilted by Soto, who only exacerbated such feelings, when, in some of his first public comments as a Met boldly declared that New York “has been a Mets town for a long time.”
Of course, some Yankees fans will likely give Soto a cheer, a form of thanks for his stellar year in the Bronx. But it’s a safe bet that the Mets star will overwhelmingly hear loud boos when he steps onto the field—and up to the plate—as a visitor at Yankee Stadum on May 16.
And he’s preparing for it.
