Juan Soto has seemingly become public enemy No. 1 for the New York Yankees' fan base after signing with the New York Mets in the offseason.

The Yankees traded for Soto back in December 2023, knowing they would have to re-sign him within a year or risk losing the talented outfielder for nothing. So the Yankees tried and tried, reportedly offering Soto deals worth as much as $760 million over 16 years.

And at some point this past offseason, the Yankees felt pretty good about re-signing Soto.

“The New York Yankees are convinced that Juan Soto was ready to re-sign with them on Dec. 11,” USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote. “He asked for a bit more time, was going to discuss it with his family during lunch, and the next thing they knew he was signing with the Mets after being persuaded by family members.”

Whether he was actually close to signing with the Yankees or not, Dec. 11 marked the day Soto's record-breaking deal with the Mets was finalized. Reports had surfaced over the previous few days, including one from ESPN's Jeff Passan in which he said that Soto and the Mets had agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract, the largest in sports history. The terms of the deal in Passan's report were correct, and unfortunately the Yankees, so was the fact that he had decided to leave the Yankees for the Mets.

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Since that fateful day in December, Soto has become a hated figure among Yankees fans, which has made the last few weeks all that much sweeter.

Soto has become the talk of the town this season, but especially lately, it was overwhelmingly negative as he endured a weeks-long stretch in which he did not record an extra-base hit. During that timespan, the Mets also lost two of three to the Yankees in the first Subway Series of the season. Soto went 1-for-10, drew four walks, and struck out three times in the series.

The Yankees and Mets have nearly identical records to this point in the season; the Yankees sit atop the AL East by 5.5 games with a 31-20 record, while the Mets are three games back of the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East with a 31-21 record.

The next time the two teams will meet will be July 4, when the Mets host the Subway Series rematch.