NEW YORK, NY — On every turn of the corner in the Bronx this past weekend, you could hear individuals discussing the New York baseball saga between the Mets and Yankees, all surrounding Juan Soto.
The leading storyline heading into this past weekend’s Subway Series at Yankee Stadium was the negative reaction Soto was going to receive every time he batted. Soto was a major contributor to the Yankees playing in their first World Series in fifteen years. The Yankees rarely lose players on their roster who they want who are heading into free agency. As their former first baseman Mark Teixeira told me after he signed with the Bronx Bombers, “When the Yankees want you, it is hard to turn them down.”
Soto proved to be an exception to that rule as he opted to cross the RFK Bridge and accept Mets owner Steve Cohen’s lucrative offer to join the Mets. I understand rooting for your favorite baseball team can suspend rationality especially when he selects a team you despise. It is a childhood vestige.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The reality, however, is Major League Baseball is a multi-billion-dollar business, and most players do not get many opportunities to earn a “set for life” contract in the destination they prefer. Every player who is a free agent is entitled to make their own choices based on the marketplace. Soto did exactly that.
Soto (2021 NL LatinoMVP/2024 AL LatinoMVP) was only a Yankee for one year, as he was traded to the Bronx by the San Diego Padres who had made the decision not to bid for his services when his contract was up. Soto had no say in being a Bronx Bomber, but he never complained.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
As expected, Soto was lustily booed every time he stepped up to the plate. To his credit, he handled it with aplomb by waving to the crowd, doffing his helmet, and offering a bright wide smile. If anything, the intensity of the crowd’s reaction may have unnerved Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón who walked Soto twice and did not appear to be in command of his pitches.
While Rodón had pitch control issues when facing Soto, Mets starter Tylor Megill had them with every Yankees hitter he faced. He walked five batters and fell behind the count to all he faced. He was able to escape trouble in the first inning; enjoyed a quick second inning but then fell apart in the third giving up four runs. At least Megill will be able to tell his grandchildren that he struck out Aaron Judge.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
A forgotten man in the Subway Series hoopla was Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas who managed the Mets for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Rojas was dealt a very bad hand. He inherited a bad team and then had to manage through the dreaded 2020 pandemic season. He found himself working under the new team CEO Steve Cohen in 2021 who already made the decision to fire him. “I enjoyed my time in Queens, and I miss it,” the gentlemanly Rojas told me despite all the travel.
Mets on the Move team initiative with Reed Garrett visiting PS 60
Mets relief pitcher Reed Garrett visited PS 60 in Woodhaven last Wednesday as part of the “Mets on the Move” team initiative to promote physical fitness to young people.
Image Credit: Amazin’ Mets Foundation
Garrett channeled his inner Jack LaLanne as he led the students in various calisthenics. “It is important to get kids off their phones and computers and get them to enjoy athletics,” he told me Friday.
MLB’s Rivalry Weekend A Overwhelming Success
I criticized Major League Baseball’s scheduling in a recent column, but I must now tip my hat to them. This past weekend was Rivalry Weekend, as MLB scheduled most series with teams who play in the same city or state. In a worst-case scenario, geographic proximity was a yardstick.
Image Credit: MLB
This gives fans of a team an easy chance to root for them in the enemy ballpark.
Hudson River Derby with Red Bulls and NYCFC at Citi Field
Whether it was by design or coincidence, Major League Soccer had its local rivalry, the Hudson River Derby, taking place at Citi Field on Saturday as the New York Red Bulls traveled to Citi Field to take on the New York City Football Club.
NYCFC was able to extract a little revenge on the Red Bulls for knocking them out of the MLS playoffs last fall. They beat them 2-0 thanks to goals by Alonso Martínez, who always plays his best against the Red Bulls, and Maxi Moralez.
Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
Nearly 31,000 fans were at Citi Field to watch soccer’s version of the Subway Series. There would have been more fans had New Jersey Transit trains been operating. At last fall’s playoff game there were many in the stands wearing Red Bulls red. That was not the case on Saturday.
The 2025 Upfronts in NYC
The second week of May is when the various television networks and streaming services hold big presentations at New York venues to tout their programming to advertisers and the media known as upfronts.
NBC, which will be celebrating its centennial in 2026, is poised to have the biggest year in televised sports as they have the rights to the upcoming Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX, the Kentucky Derby, and the highest-rated TV primetime program, “Sunday Night Football.”
Image Credit: havasedge
What NBC executives really touted to their Radio City Music Hall audience, however, was the return of the NBA to the Peacock Network after 23 years. Garden City native John Tesh led a fifty-piece orchestra to play the old “Roundball Rock” theme. Michael Jordan will be a “special contributor,” while Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony will be a studio analyst for NBC Sports. Whitestone native, Bayside High School alum, and the lead play-by-play voice for NBC Sports, Mike Tirico, made the on-stage pitch to advertisers.
While NBC picked up the rights to NBA games, Warner Media lost them. Warner Media Sports’ CEO Luis Silberwasser put the best bow he could on that at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront. “We’ve had a change in our sports portfolio,” he said, and then touted the new college football and basketball packages WBD networks will be showing.
More from the 2025 Upfronts in NYC
FOX Sports has long held rights to both Major League Baseball and the NFL, but they increased their motorsports presence last year when they acquired the rights to the Indy 500. David Letterman, who owns an Indy car racing team, made a surprise appearance at the FOX upfront.
As always, Disney, which owns ESPN, was the big kahuna when it came to devoting time to sports at an upfront presentation. Disney CEO Bob Iger kicked off the proceedings by stepping onto the Javits Center stage with Patrick Mahomes and Saquon Barkley.
Image Credit: NFL
With the Knicks on the verge of beating the rival Boston Celtics in the second round of the NBA playoffs, Disney executives were smart to have former Knicks stars John Starks, Allan Houston, and Patrick Ewing take the stage to pump up the ad buyers.
Peyton and Eli Manning have been big contributors to ESPN, especially their premium streaming service, ESPN Plus, so it was not surprising they were given a lot of time on the Javits stage including time for a painful singing bit. They announced a new show for Hulu, “Chad Powers,” which stars Glen Powell as a college football player whose arrogance cost his team a championship and is now seeking redemption.
The idea for the show came from an episode of “Eli’s Places” on ESPN Plus in which Eli Manning dons a disguise to see what it is like for a walk-on to make the Penn State football team.
Prime Video and Thursday Night Football back together for 2025 and for Black Friday NFL game
Prime Video will be back with Thursday Night Football and will once again have a Black Friday game. In what they hope will be a new Black Friday tradition, Prime Video will show an NBA game that evening as they also now have a piece of the NBA package. Prime will also have a new six-part documentary series, “Home Team: NY Jets.” You can think of this as a variation of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” but the difference being that it looks at the lives of six players on and off the field over a season instead of the team.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
In other Prime Video news, WWE star Mike “The Miz” Mizanin will be hosting a reboot of “American Gladiators.”
WWE’s Monday Night Raw and NFL’s 2025 Christmas Day Games on Netflix
The world’s leading steamer, Netflix, was slow to warm up to sports. That has quickly changed as it obtained the rights to the WWE’s “Monday Night Raw,” and is now home to the NFL’s Christmas Day games. They have also scored big-time with their “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” series. Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones will be the subject of a Netflix documentary this August.
Telemundo for Super Bowl LX and 2026 FIFA World Cup + Televisa Univision for Liga MX, UEFA Champions League and MLB en Vivo
When it comes to sports, the two major Hispanic television networks, Telemundo and Televisa Univision, are fiercely competitive. Telemundo will have the Spanish broadcasting rights to Super Bowl LX and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Image Credit: NFL
Televisa Univision is not settling for second-best when it comes to the world of soccer as it is the broadcast home to Liga MX and it has the Spanish-speaking rights to UEFA Champions League. Univision also broadcasts “MLB en Vivo,” a baseball wraparound highlights show, and it will show some playoff games in Spanish come fall.
Lucky Strike opens in Woodside, New York
Bowling is enjoying a resurgence. The national bowling-restaurant-entertainment chain, Lucky Strike, which has an outlet in Melville, has just opened their first center in Queens in Woodside, close to the LIRR station there.
You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.
