Juan Soto Archives - Queens Ledger

A $340 Million Mishap as Mets Miss Postseason

BQE Admin on October 2, 2025

Young arms, Minor League championships turn heads towards future

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

With the second-highest payroll in the Majors, the New York Mets missed the postseason in what can only be considered an abject failure. Despite a roster ripe with talent and the team’s red hot start that saw them lead the National League at multiple points, the season came to a close with a 4-0 loss in Miami.

The Mets finished level with Cincinnati, both holding 83-79 records, but the Reds earned the tiebreaker with a 4-2 record against New York to clinch the final Wild Card spot in the NL. As Francisco Lindor grounded into a season-ending double play, Mets players shared looks of dismay, disbelief, and shock that their 2025 campaign had come to a premature halt.

As any division rival should, the Marlins clearly took pride in playing spoiler. Miami played New York very well all season long, winning the season series 7-6. They were victorious in 5 of the 7 games played against New York in the back half of the season, only finishing 4 games behind the Mets with a payroll roughly one fifth the size.

“Mets fans everywhere. I owe you an apology. You did your part by showing up and supporting the team. We didn’t do our part,” said owner Steve Cohen in a somber statement. “We are all feeling raw emotions today. I know how much time and effort you have put into this team. The result was unacceptable. Your emotions tell me how much you care and continues to motivate the organization to do better.”

A notable point in the Mets downfall was the lack of improvement following the trade deadline. While the acquisitions of Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers gave New York one of the best bullpens in MLB on paper, Helsley panned out as one of the club’s worst ever deadline pickups, with Rogers failing to find consistency.

Additionally, Cedric Mullins provided little improvement in CF despite an injury to Tyrone Taylor. He struggled to make an impact despite providing adequate defense in the outfield.

New Mets star Juan Soto acknowledged this season’s failure but remained optimistic about the future. He put together his first ever 30/30 season, leading the National League in stolen bases with 38 (tied with Oneil Cruz). He finished just two stolen bases shy of a 40/40 campaign, setting a new career high with 42 homers in 2025.

Another bright spot this year was the young pitching. Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat showed tremendous potential for the future, as pitching depth was a clear weakness all season long. Whether all three begin the 2026 season in the Majors remains to be seen, but all were up for the challenge as they tried to push New York into October baseball.

Mets Minor League affiliates also celebrated success this year. In the past few weeks, both the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies claimed league championships. Despite the MLB team coming up short, there is a good deal of talent awaiting their chance to prove themselves at the game’s highest level.

JJ: “Panic & Stress Is Contagious For NY Baseball in 2025”

BQE Admin on August 12, 2025

By John Jastremski

I think it’s fair to say for a month plus, the narrative around NY Baseball and panic has been front and center around the New York Yankees. Totally fair, totally justified might I add…

However, over the past month. The New York Mets have basically said to their crosstown rivals, “Hold my beer.”

The Mets were a team that at one point in the season was 20 plus games over .500 and basically found themselves in a dead heat with the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East.

The past month around the Mets has changed that narrative quite significantly. The Mets have fallen on some very hard times as a team. They have lost 7 consecutive games entering Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves.

After the sweep at the hands of the Brewers, the Mets have stunningly lost 11 of their last 12 games and now cling to the 3rd Wild Card spot in the NL Playoff Picture and find themselves 6 games back of Philadelphia for first place in the NL East.

The pressing question is how in the world has this happened? A couple of different reasons.

The Mets cannot get any length out of their starting pitchers. For the past two months, their starters have averaged less than 5 innings a start. I don’t care if it’s the modern day game in 2025, that is 100 percent unacceptable.

The Mets inability to get length out of their rotation has compromised their bullpen dramatically.

The Mets also have seen their stars struggle mightily. Francisco Lindor was the conquering hero of the 2024 team. He has been dreadful for the past two months, where you have to wonder if indeed he is 100 percent right?

Juan Soto falls under that microscope too. Yes, his numbers on the surface look solid, but much of the damage Soto has done was during a red hot month of June.

In the biggest of spots so far in 2025, Juan Soto has come up too small. Soto was the king of the moment a year ago for the Yankees. The Mets need him to meet the moment over the final two months of the season.

The Mets schedule is very tricky after the next two weeks. It is imperative for the Mets to beat up on the Atlanta Braves, and yes I realize how weird it was typing that exact sentence.

Yes, the Braves have been a thorn in the Mets side for years. However, the Braves are a hot mess in 2025.

They are well under .500 and it’s been a lost season. Time to punish a team that wants to be put out of their misery.

The Mets have time to get their season back on track, but if the stars don’t play like stars and the rotation doesn’t find a way to give them some length, the problems and the misery will continue.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Tuesday & Friday. You can watch me on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.

JJ: “A World Series Rematch With Better Version Of Yanks?”

BQE Admin on May 27, 2025

By: John Jastremski

This weekend, the Yankees will renew acquaintances with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Remember those guys? The World Series Champs.

It will be the Yankees first matchup with the Dodgers since last year’s Fall Classic.

It was a World Series to forget for Yankees fans.

I have a very hard time making a series at the end of May, a be all, end all type of series.

That said, as the Yankees get set to take on the champs, this take dawned on me.

If you would have said to me after the World Series a year ago, the Yankees would lose Juan Soto and be a better baseball team, there is no chance I would have believed you.

Yet, as the Yankees get ready for the month of June and this World Series rematch to come, I think that they are.

Look, this has nothing to do with Juan Soto. Juan Soto is one of the main reasons last year’s team won the AL Pennant.

He was amazing, he was clutch, and make no mistake, I wanted him back in pinstripes.

However, look at the complexion of the 2025 New York Yankees.

Through two months, they have the best run differential in Major League Baseball.

Offensively, they have done a wonderful job replacing the production of Soto.

Ben Rice and Trent Grisham have come out of nowhere and have been essential components to the lineup.

They’ve hit the ball hard, they’ve gotten on base and they’ve hit for power.

The Yankees youngsters have been up and down, but Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells have all shown moments of promise.

It also helps that the lineup has Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world mashing at a record pace through the first two months.

Offensively speaking, the Yankees have been just fine for now, without Mr. Soto.

The first Free Agent signing in the Yankees Juan Soto pivot was Max Fried.

Can you imagine where this Yankee team would be without Fried? Fried has been one of the three top starters in baseball over the first two months of the season.

The team needed an ace in the absence of Gerrit Cole’s season ending Tommy John surgery and Fried has delivered on that front.

Just think about this for a minute.

The Yankees have played two months of baseball. Juan Soto is a Met. Gerrit Cole was lost for the season in March. Luis Gill and Giancarlo Stanton have not appeared in a single game. Oh and Jazz Chisholm has missed a month..

With all that. The Yankees have a six game lead in the American League East and have the best run differential in baseball.

There is a long way to go, but in the post Soto pivot, there is a whole lot to like.

If you’re a Yankees fan, you’re singing, “Gimme More!”

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network following every Knicks Playoff Game on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite on SNY.

JJ: “As Subway Series Dawns, The Soto Sub Plot Emerges…”

BQE Admin on May 14, 2025

By: John Jastremski

It’s truly understood that New York City has a major case of Mid May Knicks fever.

When you are one game away from the Conference Finals, that is to be expected.

However, the first installment of the Subway Series awaits on Friday night and the anticipation has been building since last December.

Juan Soto will make his return to Yankee Stadium for the first time wearing Orange and Blue.

After a year in which Yankees fans showered him with love, praise and admiration, the tone on Friday night will be drastically different.

Imagine the jeers that David Ortiz and Jose Altuve have received from the Bronx faithful over the last few seasons, well I think that hostility towards Soto will be even worse.

Juan Soto chose the Mets, you can’t imagine the Yankee faithful are particularly happy about that.

It will get lost in the Soto subplot, but the first month plus of the season heading into the Subway Series has been rather glass half full for both teams.

The Mets through 42 games are double digit games over .500 and in first place in the NL East, and that’s without Juan Soto contributing much through the month of April.

It was only a matter of time before Soto joined the party and he has been one of baseball’s hottest hitters through the early portion of May.

In Yankee land, despite some pot holes along the way, the boys from the Bronx lead the AL East at 24-17.

Aaron Judge hasn’t missed a beat even without Juan Soto hitting in front of him and is on a triple crown pace.

And despite the Yankee pitching staff suffering a whole lot of adversity, newly acquired Max Fried has been everything you could hope for and then some leading the staff.

In fact, it makes you wonder in Yankee land. Where would this team be if they hadn’t signed the lefty in the offseason.

It’s mid may so I would be careful with rash judgements either way regarding the result of this 3 game series, but to have an October like feel to this weekend is rather exciting.

As if we needed any more excitement right about now in the Big City…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York after every Knicks Playoff or Subway Series Game on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.

A 2025 Yankees Spring Training Nightmare

BQE Admin on March 11, 2025

By John Jastremski

After a picturesque March day, the feeling of Spring and the Baseball season is most certainly in the air.

The feeling of optimism that is usually shared this team of the year has been turned to downright rotten, justified negativity in Yankees land.

It’s impossible to have a worse Spring Training than the 2025 New York Yankees.

The official feeling of rock bottom spring culminated with the sobering news regarding ace pitcher Gerrit Cole.

Leaving dinner on Friday night, I had a knot in my stomach reading the report that Cole was undergoing tests after feeling significant elbow pain.

The worst fears of Cole and Yankees fans was officially acknowledged on Monday; season ending Tommy John Surgery.

When you read the tea leaves of last season. The news shouldnít be totally shocking. Remember, Cole missed the first three months of last year with elbow discomfort.

He was not given the same leeway in starts including the postseason to go as deep into games as he normally would. The warning signs were there.

That said, the 2025 Yankees plan for great success was centered around run prevention. Run prevention without one of the best pitchers in baseball is a tall task.

In addition to not having Cole for the season, the AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gill is going to miss at least the first two months of the year with a lat strain.

You think that’s bad? What about the lineup… Remember, this is a Yankees lineup that lost one of the best hitters in baseball Juan Soto this past offseason.

There are plenty of questions as to how the team will go about replacing Soto’s production.

Well, you can add the production of Giancarlo Stanton as well for the foreseeable future. Stanton’s status for the 2025 Yankees is unknown. He is out for the next few months with major elbow issues in both elbows.

Stanton’s brilliance in October can never be questioned. His durability is a much different conversation.

So, here we are. A few weeks before the start of the season.

Juan Soto is a Met. Giancarlo Stanton has major elbow issues and won’t be in the lineup anytime soon. Oh and your rotation is without Luis Gill for multiple months and Gerrit Cole for the season.

Time to alter your 2025 expectations for the reigning AL Champs. There can still be October in the Bronx, but getting there will be anything but easy.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on the Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.