The New York Mets superstar, Juan Soto, continues to put up historic numbers for the Mets in 2025, even as the team struggles mightily down the stretch.
On Saturday, Soto hit his 40th home run of the season, a 414-foot solo shot against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. The homer made him the first player in franchise history to combine 40 home runs with 30 stolen bases in a single season. However, Soto’s big hit wasn’t enough to hold off Texas, who scored twice in the eighth and once in the ninth, handing the Mets a 3-2 loss and compounding their slump to eight straight defeats, with nine losses in their last ten games.
Soto’s 2025 season has put him among baseball’s best. With 32 stolen bases and 118 walks, he joins an exclusive trio alongside Barry Bonds (1996, 1997) and Jeff Bagwell (1997, 1999) as players to hit 40 or more home runs, steal 30-plus bases, and draw 100 or more walks in a single season. Additionally, Soto became the ninth player to hit 40 home runs with different teams in consecutive seasons, joining Shohei Ohtani (2023 Angels, 2024 Dodgers), Nelson Cruz, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Rafael Palmeiro, Greg Vaughn, and Andres Galarraga. He also joins Cruz and Thome as the only players to hit 40 homers in their first season with a team more than once.
Soto’s performance comes in the first year of his 15-year, $765 million contract, the largest in MLB history, though Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers surpasses Soto in annual salary. Amid all his individual success, the Mets’ overall downturn has left the club at 76-73, with a 21-30 record in the second half, threatening to leave them outside the postseason picture. Fans face the possibility of another late-season disappointment, reminiscent of 2023, when the Mets missed the playoffs despite stars like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
Nevertheless, Soto has remained the team’s most consistent offensive force this season. Entering Saturday’s game, he was slashing .357/.440/.738/.1.178 in September and added two more hits in the contest against the Rangers.
