Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees' Juan Soto Hits Historic Home Run vs Mariners

New York's slugger set numerous milestones with his big fly in Seattle.

Joe Najarian

Sep 17, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto (22) high-fives teammates in the dugout after during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Sep 17, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto (22) high-fives teammates in the dugout after during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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It was a night to remember for New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto.

When the 25-year-old blasted an opposite-field home run off Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo, he set at least three personal milestones, including one that he had been itching to achieve over the course of his career.

The first milestone was Soto reaching 40 home runs in a season for the very first time. After hitting a then personal-best 35 homers the previous season with the San Diego Padres, the Dominican phenom was expected to surpass that total when he was traded to the Yankees; Soto would prove those projections correct, but also managed to do it without depending on the Short Porch in right field while maintaining his approach of hitting to all fields. No part of Yankee Stadium - or any MLB stadium, for that matter - could contain him.

This directly leads into Soto's next milestone: he has officially completed his well-documented bucket list of hitting a home run in every major league stadium.

The outfielder had already made tremendous progress towards this goal in his six prior seasons in the majors; entering the 2024 season, the only stadiums Soto hadn't hit a home run in were Progressive Field in Cleveland, Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Globe Life Field in Arlington, and T-Mobile Park in Seattle. (NOTE: Soto hit his first regular season homer at Minute Maid Park in Houston this year, but he previously hit two home runs there during the 2019 World Series.) With the Yankees playing a three-game series in each of these stadiums, this gave Soto a golden opportunity to finish his checklist, and he capitalized immediately.

"We've been talking about this since Day 1, so to get my goal accomplished is a great feeling," Soto said to YES Network's Meredith Marakovits after the game. "It's a lot of work that I've been putting on since Day 1, so I'm really happy to get it done."

To add one last piece of significance to Soto's fourth inning big fly, it was the 200th of his career; he became just the seventh player ever to join the 200 home run club before the age of 26. The other players are Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews, Alex Rodriguez, Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, and Albert Pujols; all but A-Rod and Pujols are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The most important part of Soto's home run, though, is that it broke the game wide open and allowed the Bronx Bombers to cruise to a dominant 11-2 victory over the Mariners. Coupled with losses by the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Guardians, the Yankees now have a four-game lead in the AL East and a 1.5 game lead for the best record in the American League, as their magic number towards making the postseason drops to one.

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Joe Najarian
JOE NAJARIAN

Joe Najarian is a Rutgers University graduate from the Class of 2022. After an eight-month stint with Jersey Sporting News (JSN), covering Rutgers Football, Rutgers Basketball, and Rutgers Baseball, Najarian became a contributing writer on Inside the Pinstripes and Inside the Mets. He additionally writes on Giants Country, FanNation’s site for the New York Giants. Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeNajarian

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