Juan Soto has no illusions about the kind of reception he'll receive for his much-anticipated Bronx return Friday night.
Soto, who left the New York Yankees six weeks after their World Series loss to sign with the New York Mets on a record-setting 15-year, $765 million contract, knows that all eyes will be squarely on him when he makes his first trip back to Yankee Stadium for the opener of a three-game series between the two division leaders.
And he knows fans won't exactly be welcoming him with open arms.
"It's going to be 50,000 against one," Soto told the New York Post. "They're going to try to get on me, you know. It's part of it.
"Whatever they do, they have a right to do it."
Soto's departure followed months of speculation over whether he would stay or go. Toward the end of last season and into a postseason run where the Yankees made their first World Series appearance since 2009, the affection between Soto and the fans was evident and highlighted by daily "re-sign Soto" chants.
Soto ultimately rejected the Yankees' 16-year, $760 million offer, opting instead to sign the richest contract in professional sports history to join the Mets.
Though Soto said he's still "adjusting to the new team," he emphasized that he has no regrets.
"No, no. I made a decision, and I'm happy that I made it," Soto told the Post. "You look around. We have an unbelievable team. And it's going to be a good team for a long time."
Soto is hitting .255 with eight homers and 20 RBIs, and he's 13-for-45 (.289) in his past 12 games after hitting .241 in the first month of the season. He has batted second in the order between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso for every game except Wednesday, when he was given the night off for a rainy 4-0 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Mets, who took the World Series champion Dodgers to six games in the 2024 NLCS, have been in first place every day since April 11 and are 6-3 in their past nine games.
Meanwhile, the Yankees used some of the money they'd hoped to spend on Soto to sign starting pitcher Max Fried and seven-time All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP. They also acquired two-time All-Star outfielder Cody Bellinger, the 2019 NL MVP, in a trade.
Those additions give the lineup more depth beyond six-time All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge, the 2022 and 2024 American League MVP who is leading the major leagues with a .412 batting average, 15 homers and 41 RBIs.
"I think it'll be really exciting for the fan bases," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the weekend series with the Mets, "especially all that's going on in New York right now with the Knicks hopefully on the verge of a series win and us playing the Mets and all that goes with that. Hopefully, the weather is good and it provides for an exciting weekend for our city."
For his part, Soto echoed Boone's sentiment, saying his return to Yankee Stadium is "going to be fun."
"It's going to be good," he said. "We're going to have a good time."
Field Level Media contributed to this report.