Soto vs. Judge: Who will return first to the World Series?

The former partners, today city rivals, suffered the bitter defeat in the “October classic” against the Dodgers and now, being part of different squads, the two compete to see who will return first.

Get to the World Series And even more, winning it, it is one of the most complicated achievements that exist in professional sport. After a long and strenuous season of 162 games, the few guests to the postseason should be played absolutely everything between the series of Wild CardDivisional and championship, before being able to access the right to face the champion of the other circuit and thus, have the opportunity to become champion of the Major Leagues.

Baseball is such an unpredictable sport, that, in many occasions, not even the big favorite wins the season, because if something teaches the postseason is that the most important thing is to get through a great moment, to have the best players available.

Juan Soto and Aaron Judge They come from losing as partners the World Seriesas part of New York Yankeesso if there are two stars that know the taste of defeat, they are two. The big difference is that Soto He already had the opportunity to prove the glory, when in 2019, a team of Washington Nationalswith which absolutely no one counted, ended up becoming champion.

Today, near the start of the 2025 season of the Major Leagues, Soto and Judge They are no longer colleagues. In fact, they are rivals within New York City, there is no doubt that there will be a strong competition between both stars to see who will return and win the “Autumn classic” first.

Soto He decided to go to New York Mets During the past month of December, obtaining in the process the largest contract in history for a professional athlete. During the following days, Soto He has been very vocal in saying that, with the Metshe feels that he has greater opportunities to win a championship, notion that, although Judge He pointed out that he respects, “It’s just Soto’s opinion“And do not believe that it is true.

Taking into account these diametrically opposed positions, the question of who, in reality, is closer to returning to a World Series: Soto next to the Mets either Judge next to the Yankees.

To answer that question, we will see it from several perspectives: the roster of each team and their health, the difficulty of the division and who are the main rivals to be champion, thus the competition in general around the respective league and who could be left with positions of Wild Cardhindering the path of the squads in which both players militate.

Rosters and Health

Before the start of training, when the teams that will start the year to Mets and Yankeesbefore, even, that the return of Pete Alonso to the Queens team, it was very difficult to think that the squad of Soto I had a wide advantage over the “Bronx bombers”, But with the passing of the weeks, the health factor has inclined the white in favor of the Mets.

The Yankeeswho had a wide advantage in the department of Picheo opening, have seen the same considerably reduce, losing to Gerrit Cole all over 2025 Luis Gil At least for three months. At the same time, Mets They will not have Be Manaea To start the year, just like Frankie Montásbut those two names are not compared to those of Yankees And the expectation that they return before is high.

Of the offensive side, Aaron Judge It is probably the best batter of the Major Leaguesbut like Sotothis benefited a lot from having an elite batter as alignment partner. After Sotothe Yankees acquired the services of Cody Bellinger already Paul Goldschmidt to reinforce their offensive, but also, they lost Giancarlo Stanton For injury, so offensively, the team is not in a better place than in 2024.

As to Sotoit is projected that this will hit between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonsoforming one of the best offensive triplets in the league, being protected in a way that Judge is not, at least at the moment.

Advantage: Mets.

Difficulty difficulty

There is no doubt that the current state of the divisions in the American leagues and National It is quite different. In the NationalEast has three teams that will be playing postseason positions: Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.

Of the east side of the Americanthe Yankees They find less resistance, but the same situation of their roster could take them to complicate to be able to keep the division, especially in front of Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Soxhowever, they remain as the team to win, not only in their division, but throughout the circuit, for being the current champions of the American League.

Advantage: Yankees.

Competition level in the league

As in the internal of its division, the Mets will face much more resistance than Yankees in general terms against the League rivals. The current champions, Los Angeles Dodgersthey are favorites to arrive, again, to the World Series on the side of “Old circuit”And teams like San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacksthey will be fighting, not only for their divisions, but for the bunned league, which will make the work of reaching the postseason is much more complex for the Mets.

On the side of the American Leagueat least on paper, the road outside the division for Yankees It would seem to be quieter. In the west, its great rivals, Houston Astrosare in the midst of a kind of restructuring of their staff after the exit of Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker,the Texas Rangers They will depend on their pitchers to be healthy, starting with Jacob Degrom and the Seattle Mariners They did not make any significant incorporation into their alignment to think that better offensive results will be had than in 2024.

Thinking about the central division of the American Leaguethe three teams that are glimpsed that will compete for supremacy in that division, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royalsthey failed on their trip to the postseason, with the Yankees eliminating two of the three. There have been no significant changes that point to the same thing cannot happen in 2025.

Advantage: Yankees.

Who has the simplest way to the World Series?

Regardless of that, at the moment, the Mets They seem to have a higher quality personnel than Yankeesit is no less true that the Queens team will have to cross a much more complex road than that of the Bronx to reach the postseason and even more complicated to return to its first World Series Since 2015. It is obvious that many factors come into play when predicting who will reach the postseason, but at least for the moment, Aaron Judge It seems that it has a more comfortable path to return to “October classic” that Juan Soto.