Juan Soto sends message to reigning NL MVP ahead of 2026 season
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Juan Soto sends message to reigning NL MVP ahead of 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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Shohei Ohtani made history last season, winning his fourth unanimous MVP award after another historic season with 55 home runs and 102 RBIs.
The two-way player has been taking the league by storm since 2018, when he debuted with the Los Angeles Angels before choosing to sign a lucrative ten-year contract worth $700 million in 2023, which arguably changed baseball forever as he has set a career high in home runs and won back-to-back World Series titles with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Not to discredit other great players in the National League, but Ohtani has been miles ahead of anyone in the league, across all leagues, for the last few years, which naturally puts a target on his back to challenge him for the award.
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One of those great players to come out and declare his desire to overtake Ohtani's throne has been World Series champion Juan Soto.
"(Ohtani) better keep doing what he's doing because I'm coming," Soto stated to Mets beat writer Anthony DiComo.
Respect to Soto for letting it be known he is coming for the award, but even though the season hasn't started yet, I don't think anyone is worried that Ohtani will still perform just as well, if not better, this upcoming season. It's really going to come down to someone wanting it more than him.
Outside of the individual accolades, Soto is also hoping to lead the New York Mets back to the postseason after the team underperformed expectations, finishing 83-79 and missing the playoffs as they welcome in solid players like Bo Bichette and Luis Robert Jr to the batting order after losing all-star slugger, Pete Alonso, to the Baltimore Orioles during free agency in November.
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