The Subway Series means more this time

 The biggest story in baseball takes place today. It is not the Minnesota Twins trying to win 12 straight games in Milwaukee. Or the Detroit Tigers trying to keep the best record in baseball north of the boarder. Or even Shohei Ohtani facing his former team out in Los Angeles. No, the biggest story in baseball is Juan Soto’s return to the Bronx after the biggest free agency signing since Alex Rodriguez a quarter century ago.

I have to give credit to my girlfriend Morgan for the idea to even write this. Without the conversation early Thursday morning, this column doesn’t exist. So, thank you.

Anyway, Soto’s return to Yankee Stadium will be one of the defining moments of the 2025 season. You can thank Yankee fans for that. They are as scorn and bitter as they’ve ever been.

There have been other ugly departures from the Bronx over the years. Goose Gossage signed with San Diego. Roger Clemmons went home to Houston. Same with Andy Pettitte. And perhaps the biggest departure in recent memory is Robinson Cano taking the money in Seattle instead of staying at second base next to Derek Jeter. This return with Juan Soto feels different.

Even though every step along the way everyone involved in the pre-Juan Soto sweepstakes told Yankee fans to not fall in love with the hired gun, they didn’t listen, they did anyway. It was pretty hard not to.

Part of this also has to do with where Soto decided to sign. Queens is probably tied for second of places Yankee fans didn’t want Soto ending up (tied with the Dodgers given how the season ended last year). First place always and forever belonging to Boston of course. Add in the rumors about contractual perks, personal slights, future forecasts, and perceptions about the level of “fun” out on the actual field—Yankee fans cannot wait to thunderously boo the man they chanted to be resigned seven months earlier. The man they hoped would end up in monument park and Cooperstown with the interlocking “N-Y” on the plaque.

For much of the first month of the season Soto has dominated majority of the space in Yankee fans brains. Right or wrong, an overwhelming majority of Yankee fans wanted nothing to do with Juan Soto and wanted him to rot in Queens for the next 15 years in a special type of hell. They just couldn’t believe as baseball player decided to choose another jersey over the pinstripes. Especially the little brother in Queens. He went to the Mets! The Mets!? Is he crazy? Now they get to showcase that anger for three full days right to his face. It will be inescapable for Juan Soto and a truly special pressure cooker for the 26-year-old. It will feel like a playoff game.

For the record I never looked at Soto signing with the Mets from a bitter place. I fell in love but also knew money was going to be the determining factor. It stings, but I totally get what the Yankees risked when they traded for what was only one great year. Also, I fully believe that from the first syllable of a “Fuck You Soto” the Mets right fielder will take it personally and completely take over the series and compete like it’s Game 7 of the World Series. Showing the bitter Yankee fan exactly what they are missing out on. And confirming the Met fan silent belief that this time will be different.

Will a three-game series in the middle of May define Juan Soto’s time with the Mets? Of course not! But it will send a message to the fanbase in the Bronx that Juan Soto is taking the first step in doing what he sought out to do when he inked the richest contract in North American sports: change the perception of the New York Mets. And back up his own claims that the Mets will be the team with the brighter future. Again, only time will tell if Soto’s gamble pays off, but in today’s world it will be the biggest statement he could make in the moment.

On the other side, the Yankees do have something to play for besides pride and to play out the games on the schedule. Many around baseball believe that the Bombers are better off this year and in the long-term without Juan Soto in their lineup. Part of that is what the Yankees pivoted to when they lost the Juan Soto sweepstakes. Part of it is how Soto will age and how Soto’s aging curve lines up with the rest of the aging players currently on the roster. A big part of the “Plan B” will play out in front of the Mets eyes because Max Fried, the big fish Brian Cashman caught after losing Soto, starts the finale on Sunday Night Baseball and will get to pen the last words of the first chapter of the Subway Series with Soto on the other side of the rivalry.

Every year each edition of the Subway Series is compared to years’ past and the ultimate Subway Series back in October of 2000. But this edition will be the biggest once since the Yankees locked the key to the city away by winning the Subway World Series in five games.

The Mets won’t reclaim the key to the city by sweeping this weekend’s series or by sweeping the later edition in Queens on July 4th weekend. But they will continue to stack evidence in their attempt to retake the hearts of casual New Yorkers. That will ultimately come with multiple World Series rings, maybe even one over the Yankees, but the little brother will give big bro something to at least keep track of for the next decade and a half. And for the Yankees it could be yet another chance to prove that the little brother still has a way to go before competing in the deep end of the pool in the big leagues.