Before a Free Agent Sweepstakes, Juan Soto Seizes His Yankees Moment

When acquiring the star slugger last year, New York knew that he might be a costly one-year rental. What the four-time All-Star did in Game 5 of the ALCS made it all worth it.

Soto's 10th-inning home run helped the Yankees clinch their first pennant since 2009. / David Richard-Imagn Images

It was around the time he fouled off the fourth straight pitch, the sixth he’d seen, that Juan Soto knew he would send the New York Yankees to their 41st World Series. This was why they had brought him here, why they had traded the farm for one October with him, but he wasn’t thinking about that. This was the moment he had been dreaming of since spring training, but he wasn’t thinking about that. He was the final piece of a team that for 15 years hasn’t quite been good enough, that has gone from the premier franchise in sports to an organization that spent the offseason reevaluating everything. Of course, he wasn’t thinking about that, either.

Soto was thinking: Be ready. He’s going to make a mistake—and you’re going to hit it.

Cleveland Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis made his mistake, and Soto made history. 

It took five games—three of them all-timers—and 10 innings, but 15 years after their last title, the Yankees secured a trip to the World Series with a 5–2 win over the Guardians in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The key moment belonged, as he had hoped it would, to their most important offseason addition, the man whose trade from the San Diego Padres in December inspired his new teammates to all but measure their ring fingers. 

“That was the whole purpose of going all-in,” says Yankees GM Brian Cashman. “We gave up a lot, and it was a one-year deal for a lot of money, and it was a big chess move, no doubt about it, that was designed to increase our chances—and it did.”

The final out had barely settled in the glove of—appropriately—Soto before the thousands of Yankees fans in the stands began chanting “Re-sign Soto.” His teammates concurred. Soto, who turns 26 the day the World Series begins, will be a free agent whenever this run ends. He is making $31 million this year, the highest figure ever for a player in his arbitration years, and this winter he is expected to command among the richest deals in the history of sports. 

“Seven hundred million,” suggests third baseman Jazz Chisholm. 

“Let’s bring this one home,” says DH Giancarlo Stanton, the ALCS MVP. “And then let’s bring him home.”

Stanton earned ALCS MVP honors after helping the Yankees to a 4–1 series win. / David Richard-Imagn Images

It was hard to watch Soto’s signature moment and imagine him anywhere else. The right fielder Soto; captain and center fielder Aaron Judge, who hits behind him; and Stanton, who follows; form the stuff of pitchers’ nightmares. In the sixth inning on Saturday, with two outs, a runner on third and the Guardians up 2–0, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt allowed starter Tanner Bibee to face Stanton for the third time. Stanton had already walloped three home runs in the series, but Vogt says he did not consider an intentional walk.

“Tanner was dialed,” he says. “Tanner had struck him out twice. He had him on the ropes. One mistake, that right there. I trust Tanner on him. The way he was throwing the ball, I would not—you give me 100 more times, I'm not putting him on right there.”

Bibee threw Stanton five balls. Stanton swung at two. Then Bibee left a slider over the plate, and Stanton “took care of it,” as he puts it, depositing it in the left field seats. 

“That's as good a swing as you can put on a ball,” says manager Aaron Boone.

The exhausted bullpens—Yankees relievers combined for 49% of their innings this series, Guardians relievers for 62%—traded zeroes for the next three frames, not allowing a runner past first base. 

But in the 10th, Vogt summoned the right-handed Gaddis. He had been nearly perfect in his last outing, in Game 4—14 pitches, 12 strikes, three strikeouts. He induced a soft liner for the first out, then walked Austin Wells. He got Alex Verdugo to ground to the right side … and watched in horror as the normally sure-handed shortstop Brayan Rocchio bobbled the throw from second baseman Andrés Giménez. Everyone was safe. Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres. That brought up Juan Soto.

“The more he sees a pitcher, the more dangerous he gets,” says Stanton. He is referring to within an at bat, but it’s just as true over several appearances. The left-handed Soto faced Gaddis in Game 2, when the righty threw Soto four sliders and a fastball that he flied to left. They met again in Game 3, and Gaddis threw two sliders and two fastballs. In Game 4, Soto watched from the bench as Gaddis threw six sliders, six changeups and two fastballs. 

“I was just locked in, locked in, ready to go, ready to do damage,” Soto says. “I already saw every pitch he threw me, so I was ready to hit anything.”

First he took a slider inside for ball one, an encounter he punctuated with his signature shuffle and with a long look at Gaddis. The next pitch was another slider, which home plate umpire Alan Porter ruled had just clipped the bottom of the zone. Soto disagreed dramatically, rolling his eyes and dropping to a squat, but he got back into the box. He was early on the next pitch, a chest-high slider that he should probably have driven to center field, and he fouled it off. He nodded at Gaddis. The fourth pitch was a changeup low in the zone, and Soto fouled that one off, too. He nodded again. Gaddis threw a changeup high and on the outside corner. Soto fouled that one off, and then he did something nearly as frightening as demolishing a baseball: He smiled. 

Soto fouled off one more slider down and away, and he nodded again. You’re all over every pitch, he thought. 

Catcher Bo Naylor called for a fastball above the zone and away. It didn’t quite get there. 

“I want it since Day One,” Soto says. “I’ve always said, give me every hard moment, every tough time. I’m gonna step up.”

May we once again re-introduce, The Generational, Juan Soto. pic.twitter.com/6R5fWpEg6I

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 20, 2024

He was almost sure it was gone off the bat. “I hit it pretty hard,” he says. But he still waited at home plate and watched. As it landed just above the wall in center field, he turned to his teammates, spilling deliriously out of the dugout, and he thumped his chest. He fairly danced around the bases, gesturing to the bullpen, jumping to high-five third-base coach Luis Rojas and finally completing individual handshakes with his teammates, waiting to greet him. 

An hour after the game, they were still marveling at the at bat. “Just taking balls out of the catcher’s glove, it seemed like,” Stanton says. “Shooting fouls over there, but still being ready for the heater to hit out is incredible.”

“Just an at bat for the ages,” says Boone. “He’s kind of taking some funky swings, spoiling things, and just kind of outlasting him. It’s not surprising, either, that he does it. That’s who he is. He’s so good at seizing the moment.”

They hope owner Hal Steinbrenner will pay whatever it takes to ensure Soto will do this sort of thing for the Yankees for years to come. But in the meantime, he just bought himself at least four more chances.