Mets vs Yankees Pick: Bronx Fans Get To Boo Juan Soto (May 16)

• Our Mets vs Yankees pick looks at two 1st place teams battling for New York bragging rights
• The Mets (28-17, 1st place in the NL East) start Tylor Megill
• The Yankees (25-18, 1st place in the AL East) start Carlos Rodon
• This is Juan Soto’s first visit to the Bronx since leaving for the Mets, and he will be booed lustily

Mets’ Soto Visits His Former Club for the 1st Time

Juan Soto had the highest bWAR of his career in 2024 while playing for the Yankees. He finished third in the AL MVP voting and helped lead the Bombers to their first pennant in 15 years. After the season, he spurned the Yankees to sign with the crosstown Mets.

All along, there was a belief that if the dollars were close, Soto would stay with the Yankees regardless of the teams that made the offer. In retrospect, it turned out that if the dollars were close, he was leaving. The Mets offered more money and contractual sweeteners. But there were issues, such as an incident in which his family members were harassed by the Yankees’ overzealous security. He didn’t seem to like it there. It was too cold, too corporate, and not particularly fun.

So he left.

Now, in his first game at Yankee Stadium as a Met, he is going to be booed. Motivating him might not be the best idea Yankees fans have ever had, but if they want to boo, they can boo.

He has not hit full stride as a Met yet with a .255/.380/.465 slash, 8 homers, and an .845 OPS. Suffice it to say a hot streak is coming, possibly starting this weekend.

The Mets start Tylor Megill.

The Yankees have not hit Megill well in his brief appearances against them. Aaron Judge is 0 for 3. Paul Goldschmidt is 1 for 5 with a double. Trent Grisham is 0 for 2.

Aaron Judge Is Single-handedly Carrying the Yankees

The Aaron Judge-Juan Soto combination in 2024 led the Yankees to the World Series. In 2025, Judge is single-handedly carrying the Yankees with his MLB-leading .412 batting average, .497 on-base percentage, .782 slugging percentage, 1.279 OPS, 15 home runs, 41 RBI, 68 hits, and 3.6 bWAR.

This season, he’s getting help from a surprising source in Trent Grisham. But Grisham can’t keep up his current pace of an OPS near 1.000 and 12 homers forever.

The Bombers start lefty Carlos Rodon.

Rodon has been overshadowed by Max Fried, but he has done his part in making up for the loss of Gerrit Cole. He has pitched at least 6 innings in every start but one. And in that one, he pitched 5.1 innings. He has thrown 54.2 innings and allowed 33 hits and 20 earned runs while striking out 67.

Against Rodon, the Mets’ Francisco Lindor is 10 for 35 with 3 doubles and 2 homers. Tyrone Taylor is 2 for 2 with a home run. Luis Torrens is 1 for 3 with a home run. Pete Alonso is 1 for 5 with a single.

Judge has been getting help recently from Jasson Dominguez, whose OPS is up to .761. He hit 3 homers against the Athletics a week ago. Goldschmidt’s batting average is up to .346.

Mets vs Yankees Pick: It Will Be a Closely Pitched, Raucous Game

As always, the Mets-Yankees games take over New York City. With the battle over Soto, it takes on a new form. The oddsmakers have the Mets getting 1.5 runs, so that is the wisest option instead of picking one team or another to win such an emotional battle.