The battle for New York baseball supremacy just got more interesting. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, once teammates in the Bronx, are now rivals after Soto’s blockbuster $765 million move to the Mets.
Soto’s arrival in Queens marks a bold push by the Mets to end their 39-year World Series drought. The Yankees, still stinging from their Fall Classic loss to the Dodgers, are regrouping around Judge to maintain their grip on the city’s baseball spotlight.
The 26-year-old Soto didn’t mince words about his decision to join the Mets.
“At the end of the day, we looked at everything, we looked at what all the (bidding) teams wanted to do for the next 15 years and I think we have the best chance to win here,”
he told reporters in December.
Judge, the reigning American League MVP, offered a measured response when asked about Soto’s comments. “That’s his opinion — he can say what he wants,” Judge said Monday. “I definitely disagree with him. But I wasn’t too surprised by it. I think that’s where he wanted to be, that’s where is best for him and his family. He got a pretty nice deal over there, so you can’t say no to that.”
The Mets face some serious competition in the National League, where the Dodgers have assembled what looks like a super team around Shohei Ohtani. But Soto’s proven he can turn any lineup into a contender, just as he did during his brief stint with the Yankees.
The Yankees’ path in the American League might be a bit clearer, but they’ll need to surround their $360 million centerpiece with more consistent offensive support. Judge is once again shouldering the responsibility of leading a lineup that’s got some question marks.
What’s certain is that the Mets-Yankees rivalry just got a whole lot more interesting. With two of baseball’s most dynamic young stars now on opposite sides of town, the fight for New York’s baseball heart is just getting started.
