October or bust? Inside Juan Soto’s roller-coaster first season as a Met
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Jorge Castillo
THE NEW YORK METS reached a milestone when they completed their final homestand of the 2025 season last weekend: 3,182,057 fans had passed through the turnstiles, setting a single-season attendance record at Citi Field.
But the homestand, as far as it mattered in the standings, was a horror show. Battling to hold on to the final wild-card playoff spot in the National League, the Mets lost two of three to the Texas Rangers, took two of three from the playoff-bound San Diego Padres, then lost control of their postseason destiny after inexplicably dropping two of three games in a slapdash performance against the lowly Washington Nationals.
The sellout crowd at Sunday’s loss, in turn, serenaded the Mets with boos.
It was also rough at times for Juan Soto. Against the Nationals, the organization that first signed and developed him, he delivered two multihit games, a tying ninth-inning single, a home run, and two steals. But he also made his first error of the season, a costly mistake that allowed a run to score in Friday’s extra-inning loss, and was caught stealing in Sunday’s one-run defeat. It felt fitting in what has been a topsy-turvy first season as a Met for the highest-paid free agent in baseball history.
While spirited fans — encouraged by the progress under owner Steve Cohen’s watch, and fresh off the high of the team’s captivating 2024 run to the NL Championship Series — filled the ballpark eager to watch a World Series contender, the club with the second-most expensive roster in the majors went from holding the best record in baseball in mid-June to floundering so badly for three-plus months that a historic collapse from the postseason picture is very conceivable with five road games left.
Individually, Soto emerged from a sluggish start by his standards, which drew relentless scrutiny, to register one of the best seasons in his new franchise’s history, an MVP-level output that has helped keep the Mets’ postseason dreams afloat. But their roller-coaster ride of a season will now require a spectacular finish, reminiscent of last season, when they clinched a playoff berth and won a wild-card series on the same three-city trip. Returning to Citi Field in October will also almost certainly require a trip to Los Angeles to face the defending champion Dodgers in a three-game wild-card series.
Soto, the Mets’ $765 million man, will be front and center.
After his turbulent introduction to Queens, Soto lately has looked as if he’s finally feeling at home as he plays for his fourth team in four seasons. But ask him, and that’s not quite the case — at least not yet.
“It’s a little better,” Soto said in Spanish last week.
So, when will it feel like home?
“Soon,” Soto said. “Soon.”
What if the free-falling Mets stun the baseball world and win the World Series?
“Maybe,” Soto said. “Maybe.”
AFTER HELPING LEAD the New York Yankees to the World Series in his lone season in the Bronx, Soto joined the Mets this year relieved to finally find a permanent home. But the beginning of his potential 15-year stay across town was rocky.
“It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning,” Soto said. “It was difficult.”
Early in the season, Soto did not produce the kind of results fans had expected. He batted .224 with a .745 OPS in his first 55 games. The numbers were uglier in 57 plate appearances with runners in scoring position: a slash line of .130/.228/.239 that defied his stout underlying numbers. His body language was examined from every angle. External noise blared on the airwaves as he acknowledged not feeling comfortable upon arriving with outsized expectations.
“It’s honestly insane and really disrespectful with how people were kind of talking and treating him earlier in the year,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said.
Then, as the calendar flipped to June, Soto shuffled into form.
Soto has slashed .291/.426/.611 in 100 games since May 30, when he snapped an 0-for-17 skid with two hits. His 1.036 OPS over the span ranks third in the majors behind A’s rookie sensation Nick Kurtz and former Yankees teammate Aaron Judge. His 34 home runs are third. His .426 on-base percentage is second. His 81 walks is tied with Judge atop the field.
“He doesn’t throw away at-bats,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “There aren’t at-bats that are lost with him. You feel like all the at-bats are big, that each one is an important at-bat. He’s done a spectacular job all year.”
Last week, Soto became the second player to record three straight 100-RBI seasons, all with a different team, since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920, according to ESPN Research. He is six RBIs shy of tying his career high of 110 and has already established two other prominent career marks. One, belting 42 home runs to eclipse his total with the Yankees last season, was on the bingo card. The other, stealing 36 bases to record the first 40/30 season in Mets history, was not.
The base Soto swiped for his 30th steal this season, a feat he reached at Citizens Bank Park earlier this month, sat at his locker during the final homestand. The keepsake represented a constant desire to defy doubters. Soto never stole more than 12 bases in a season before 2025, but he reported to spring training with an unexpected goal.
“He asked me if I think he could steal 30 bases,” Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson said. “And I told him no. I said you’re slow. But I said you get on base enough so you might have an opportunity to do it.”
Richardson is not wrong. Soto is slow relative to his big league peers; his average sprint speed this season ranks 503rd among 572 players across the majors. But Soto was resolute. He wanted to steal more bases. So Richardson worked with Soto on acceleration and on reading pitchers, eventually giving Soto the confidence to let loose on the basepaths. In 42 games through May 12, Soto stole two bases on two attempts. He’s 34-for-38 since May 13.
“A lot of people think that I can only hit,” Soto said. “I think I can do a lot more than hitting.”
Soto’s progress as a base stealer was met with a steep defensive regression. Soto has stated his top goal — even above winning an MVP award — is a Gold Glove, but the metrics indicate he has been one of the worst right fielders in the majors this season. His minus-11 outs above average rank 24th and his minus-7 defensive runs save sit 20th among the 26 players with at least 500 innings logged at the position, though he wasn’t charged with an error this season until Saturday. The deficiency surfaced to bite the Mets on Tuesday when Soto misplayed a fly ball at the warning track at Wrigley Field that should’ve ended the first inning, but instead plated two runs for the Chicago Cubs.
“It wasn’t the best year for my defense,” Soto acknowledged last week.
Soto’s bat has largely compensated for the flaw when the Mets needed the production most: He’s batting .346 with a 1.127 OPS, seven home runs and 10 steals on 13 attempts in September.
“He’s an amazing hitter,” Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “He’s very professional. He has been the whole season, even down in spring training, so you’re just seeing exactly who he is.”
Mets co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes explained Soto made a mechanical adjustment about a month ago seeking to stay through the ball better and not push himself back toward the catcher. Barnes said that has allowed Soto to lift the ball more with authority and avoid hitting ground balls. That, combined with his unyielding confidence and innate plate discipline, has generated perhaps Soto’s best month as a Met, even as the team’s results have disappointed.
“There was an at-bat in Detroit [earlier this month] where he basically told the guy to be careful throwing that pitch,” Barnes recalled. “And he threw the pitch again and then he hit a home run. He’s incredible. His IQ is through the roof.”
SOTO POINTED TO one teammate who helped ease his transition the most: Starling Marte — a Met whose future with the franchise was in doubt after the team signed Soto.
Marte was the club’s primary right fielder the past three seasons. With Soto snatched from the Yankees to play right field, trade rumors swirled.
But the Mets kept Marte as their designated hitter against left-handed pitchers, a role that eventually expanded as he produced and others landed on the injured list. Along the way, he became Soto’s clubhouse confidant. The two, separated in age by 10 years, had crossed paths over their time in the majors and back home in the Dominican Republic, setting the foundation for a close relationship. As teammates, Marte found an elite talent who was willing to take constructive criticism — and give hitting advice he has incorporated into his own approach.
“Sometimes guys get bothered because you tell them things directly,” Marte said in Spanish. “But he is someone that you talk to who doesn’t get bothered and takes it well and thanks you. At first he didn’t feel very comfortable since he was new and only knew two or three guys here. He knew me so I focused more on making sure he felt that sazón Latino when you come to a new team, which is always together, always joking. So that’s what I tried to do and I’ve seen that he’s looser.”
Ryne Stanek, a nine-year veteran reliever on his fifth major league club, has been stationed next to Soto in the home clubhouse this season, a peculiarity since relievers, often the most anonymous group on a ballclub, are typically clustered together. He has noticed a slow metamorphosis in his locker neighbor.
“He’s definitely opened up more as the season’s gone on because you can tell he’s gotten more comfortable,” Stanek said. “I think a little bit of the pressure has not worn off, but he’s kind of like adiós. The pressure is out of mind. He just goes about his business in such a manner that he seems to me like the outside pressure, the noise, he’s over it. He’s just out there playing ball, having fun. It’s been cool to see him get to the position where he’s just out there having a good time.”
Evidence of a looser Soto surfaced last Tuesday when he showed up to Citi Field, after Monday’s off day, with a new look, sporting braids for the first time in his life. Mets rookie infielder Ronny Mauricio, a fellow Dominican, suggested the change and connected him with his Dominican hairstylist.
The Mets won that night, beating the Padres to open a series they would take from the contending club. The vibes were high.
But that was temporary. They were in the tank again when the Mets boarded a plane to Chicago on Sunday night knowing that they’ll need their best trip of the season to have a chance to play another game at home.
It was the latest in a season of maddening inconsistencies and underachievement. The team that took the eventual champion Dodgers to Game 6 of the NLCS and added the game’s highest-priced player somehow backtracked. The team that had the sport’s best record on June 13 somehow has the fifth worst since. But as the team stumbled, and the outside noise amplified, Soto never wavered.
“The consistency of the personality, his preparation, he never panicked,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Soto’s recent play in high-stakes games. “The impact that he has there with the boys, that, for me, is what makes him who he is. Special guy, special player.”
Now only one question remains: Can he help salvage his first season in orange and blue?
After a split north of the border, the 2025 World Series is headed to Hollywood.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays each won a game in Canada. Now, a pivotal Game 3 — with a marquee pitching match between a future Hall of Famer and yet another L.A. ace — will determine who has the advantage moving forward.
We’re posting live analysis all game long — and will add our takeaways after the final pitch.
Key links: World Series schedule, results
Live analysis
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
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Michael Rothstein
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of former Los Angeles Angels communications employee Eric Kay testified Monday that the organization was aware of his drug abuse multiple times before Kay supplied the drugs that killed Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.
Camela Kay testified in the wrongful death civil suit that she witnessed team employees and players distributing nonprescription drugs to each other, including once on a team plane where she described opioid pills being handed out. Her testimony was repeatedly interrupted with objections by team attorneys.
Camela Kay’s testimony contradicted that of the first two witnesses of the trial — Eric Kay’s ex-boss Tim Mead, the former director of communications, and Angels traveling secretary Tom Taylor. Mead and Taylor both testified they were not aware of Kay’s drug use and whether he was providing drugs to players until after Skaggs’ accidental overdose death in a Texas hotel room in 2019.
Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of giving a fentanyl-laced pill to Skaggs that led to his death. Kay is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence.
The Skaggs family is seeking $118 million and possible additional damages, claiming the team violated its rules requiring intervention, including potential dismissal, of any employee known to be abusing drugs. The family asserts that allowing Kay to interact with Skaggs, when both had addiction problems, set the conditions for disaster.
Plaintiff’s attorney Shawn Holley said in her opening statement last week that the Angels put Skaggs “directly in harm’s way” by continuing to employ Eric Kay.
Camela Kay testified that, after an attempted intervention Oct. 1, 2017, when the couple was still married, Mead and Taylor came to the Kay home. She said Mead returned the next day to check on Kay. During that time, she testified, Mead came out of the Kay bedroom holding “six or seven” baggies of about six white pills each. Camela Kay used her fingers to show the size of the baggies, about 1 inch square.
“I was shocked,” she testified. “I questioned [Mead] and asked where he got those. He said Eric directed him and told him they were in shoeboxes.”
She said Mead then put them on a coffee table in front of where Eric Kay was sitting with Taylor.
In his earlier testimony, Mead said he recalled “very little of that morning” and did not remember asking Kay where drugs were, whether he went into Kay’s bedroom or if he found drugs in baggies there. Angels attorneys said in opening remarks that the team was not responsible for Skaggs’ death and was not aware of Skaggs’ illicit drug use or that Kay had provided drugs to multiple players. The defense also argued that Skaggs had used drugs when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks, whom he played for before his time with the Angels.
Angels attorney Todd Theodora said it was Skaggs who “decided to obtain the illicit pills and take the illicit drugs along with the alcohol the night he died.”
Camela Kay testified she continued to have concerns about her ex-husband’s substance abuse and that she shared those concerns with Mead and Taylor.
She also said she never saw improvement in Eric Kay, even after he was sent to outpatient therapy following the failed 2017 intervention. Camela Kay testified — backed by text messages shown in court — that she had multiple conversations with Angels benefits manager Cecilia Schneider to get her husband into an outpatient rehabilitation program in 2017.
Kay also testified she had been on the Angels’ plane in the past and that she observed conduct on the plane that caused her concern. When asked about the conduct, she said, “I had seen them passing out pills and drinking alcohol excessively.”
Asked plaintiff’s attorney Leah Graham: “When you say observed them, who is the them?”
“Players, clubbies,” Kay replied, indicating she believed she saw Xanax and Percocet being handed out. She later said she was kept away from players on the plane, “but you can see what’s going on behind you” and when she would go to the bathroom.
In 2013, Camela Kay said, Mead and Taylor were at the team hotel after Eric Kay had a panic attack at Yankee Stadium in New York. It was there, Camela Kay said, where Eric Kay told her he was taking five Vicodin per day. She testified Taylor and Mead were there and heard the admission.
In 2019, she testified Monday afternoon, Taylor drove Eric Kay home after an episode of strange behavior at the office. She said she found a pill bottle in the gutter where Taylor’s car was parked, and she emptied the contents in front of Taylor — about 10 blue pills that she told him were oxycodone. She said she told Taylor her husband needed help. Eric Kay later went with his sister to the hospital, where he spent three days before starting outpatient rehab. She quoted Kay’s sister as saying the pills were for Skaggs.
In earlier testimony, Taylor said he drove Eric Kay home but denied that Camela Kay dumped blue pills out in front of him. He also denied that he was told they were oxycodone and that they were for Skaggs.
Camela Kay’s testimony continues Tuesday.
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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — MLB commissioner Rob Manfred called major league player involvement in the 2028 Olympics “a unique opportunity to market the sport worldwide” and sounded optimistic while talking through the logistics of how that might work when the Games come to L.A. in summer 2028.
“The way we’re thinking about it is it would be an extension of the All-Star break,” Manfred said Monday in an interview on ESPN Radio ahead of Game 3 of the World Series. “The All-Star break would begin, we’d play the All-Star Game, and then roll right into the Olympics thereafter. So, it’d be probably 11 days of break, all in, something like that.”
MLB’s All-Star Game, traditionally on a Tuesday, would likely take place July 11 in 2028. Baseball in the Olympics is currently scheduled to be played July 15-20. If it works out, baseball’s regular season would pause for close to two weeks in the middle of July. Manfred reiterated to ESPN’s Jon Sciambi and Buster Olney that separating it into two breaks “gets really complicated” and would ultimately cause an even longer break because of the additional travel days required.
Manfred also shed light Monday on MLB and ESPN’s potential new rights deal, which has yet to be announced, saying there will be “a Wednesday night package” while making reference to the league’s streaming arm, MLB.TV, being part of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offerings.
“There’s going to be integration in terms of local broadcasts that I think the folks at ESPN, and certainly we, look at as an experiment that can be really helpful to the game as we move forward in a rapidly changing environment,” Manfred said.
Asked what has him most excited about MLB, Manfred said, “International.” The 2025 season began in Japan, one year after beginning in South Korea. Next year, the World Baseball Classic will be played. And two years after that, the hope is that some of the world’s best baseball players will participate in the Olympics for the first time since 1992.
Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA 2028 organizing committee, made what Manfred called “a really compelling presentation” to league owners on the subject, calling it a one-time opportunity with the Games being held in the United States. Manfred said MLB is “in the phase now of working with the players’ association to get them on board with the program.”
“It’s a unique opportunity to market the sport worldwide, and you ought to take advantage of it,” Manfred said. “So, that’s why we’re continuing down the road. I think the owners really buy into that idea. It is a complicated path. We’ve made great progress with LA 2028 in terms of scheduling, exactly what the tournament would look like, how the qualifiers would look, how it would fit into the Olympic program.”
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