Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Mets' Carlos Mendoza Jokes About Booing Juan Soto in Yankee Stadium Return

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kristie Ackert | Last updated May 16, 2025 5:07 PM ET

Juan Soto knows exactly what’s waiting for him when he walks back into Yankee Stadium this weekend, and he’s already bracing for it. His first trip back to the Bronx as a New York Met, fresh off that jaw-dropping 15-year, $765 million contract, promises a chorus of boos loud enough to rattle the subway lines behind the stadium.

But he probably isn’t expecting them from his own dugout. Mets’ manager Carlos Mendoza, who knows the Bronx crowd better than most, told WFAN before the game he might join in the boos. Mendoza spent four years sitting beside Aaron Boone as the Yankees’ bench coach, watching visiting players either melt or rise under the harsh lights and sharp jeers.

“I remember telling Boonie, ‘I wish they’d stop booing him,’” Mendoza recalled,

So using that psychology, when Mendoza was asked if he’d add his own voice to the Bronx chorus this time around, he didn’t hesitate. “I probably will,” he said with a laugh.

Mendoza isn't the only one who understands this. On Thursday, YES Network's Michael Kay said that Yankees fans are risking waking a sleeping giant if they boo Soto.

Soto, of course, isn’t sweating any of this. “It’s going to be 50,000 against one,” he told the New York Post. “They’re going to try to get on me, you know. It’s part of it.”

And with the Subway Series starting Friday night and both teams sitting atop their divisions, this isn’t just a return, it’s a showdown. Yankees fans feel jilted, worse, betrayed by Soto’s decision to go to their crosstown rivals. This is their first chance to let Soto know how they feel in person.

Mendoza understands the dynamic, and he knows his player. He is expecting Soto to silence the Yankee Stadium boos.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: