Immediately upon his arrival in Queens following his historic 15-year, $765 million signing, Juan Soto spoke about building a dynasty with the New York Mets.
Not just one championship to end what is now a 39-year drought. Not just a period of sustained postseason contention that the franchise has been unable to attain in its 63-year history — they have made the playoffs in two consecutive years just twice before and never three times in a row — but a multi-World-Series-winning barrage over the next decade and a half.
Welcome to the new age of the Mets, which has been steadily creeping closer on the horizon ever since Steve Cohen bought the team ahead of the 2021 season.
This is no longer a franchise predicated on pitching, as had been the blueprint for the last six decades. Instead, the acquisition of Soto has created a monstrous lineup that boasts as good a top as any in the game.
Francisco Lindor was the NL MVP runner-up. Soto finished third in the AL MVP voting after his brilliant, 41-home-run lone campaign across town with the Yankees. No one in the National League has hit more home runs than Pete Alonso since he arrived in the show in 2019, and he is back for at least one more season after a winter of uncertainty out in free agency. Mark Vientos hit 27 home runs in 111 games during his breakout season last year, which is a 162-game pace of 39 dingers.
While Cohen has the deep pockets, president of baseball operations David Stearns helped build a team that defied expectations and a miserable start in 2024 to make the NLCS in his first year in charge — a feat so impressive that it helped coax Soto to jump ship from the Yankees to join the team across town that has constantly lived in the shadows of its Bronx neighbors.
“What I was seeing from the other side was unbelievable,” Soto said of what he noticed about the Mets last season while with the Yankees. “…The future this team has, it went a lot into my decision.”
There is a developing swagger about this once-downtrodden franchise seen only a handful of times in its history. Soto’s arrival helped bring it out that much more, especially considering the Yankees’ offseason was a muted one outside the signing of lefty ace Max Fried.
Aaron Judge could potentially be on an island within the Yankees’ lineup if Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt can’t turn back the clock. Half of their starting rotation is also injured — most notably Gerrit Cole being out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this month.
At this time and at this vantage point, the Mets’ ceiling feels higher than the Yankees’. Is a transfer of power upon the Big Apple’s baseball landscape happening before our very eyes?
“It’s been a Mets town for a long time. I think we just gotta bring it to the top,” Soto said during his introductory press conference back in December. “Championships are going to tell you if it’s a Yankees or a Mets town at the end of the day.”
The talk is easy to put out there, but the Mets find themselves in one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball with the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies also legitimate threats to win the Nationa League East. The Los Angeles Dodgers, their unlimited funds, and their All-Star team also exist as a looming dominator of the senior circuit.
This, by no means, is a coronation for the Mets. But 2025 certainly feels different.
