World Series: Yankees' Juan Soto won't be a fun sight for Dodgers after past postseason meetings

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers thought they were rid of Juan Soto, and it was the Yankees who did them the favor of removing him from the NL West.

Faced with Soto’s looming contract armageddon, the Padres shipped the game’s “generational talent” to the Bronx last December in a seven-player trade that changed the baseball landscape on both coasts. L.A.’s biggest threat inside the division dumped Soto, leaving the Dodgers with one less thing to worry about.

Until Friday’s Game 1 of the World Series, when Soto becomes Public Enemy No. 1 again for the NL champs, and the most familiar foe on the Yankees’ roster.

Aaron Judge is the Yankees’ captain, and his MVP showdown with Shohei Ohtani is definitely driving the TV ratings bus for this Fall Classic. But Judge has only 10 career games against the Dodgers, and if there’s one moment that sticks in our minds about his limited time at Chavez Ravine, it’s kicking that cement base of the rightfield wall.

The Dodgers know Soto very well, after spending the whole of his pre-Bronx career in the NL, split between D.C. and San Diego, only 100 miles south of the Hollywood sign. But we’d suggest that the Soto they experienced in those previous six years might be a little different from the one they’ll get in this World Series.

This Soto could be even scarier.

How is that possible, you say? There’s a few things to take into account. Primarily, it’s no coincidence that Scott Boras’ No. 1 client has taken advantage of his walk year to jack up his free-agent price, and judging by his ALCS rampage, Soto is primed to use the World Series stage as his final springboard into a waiting ocean of cash.

When Soto drilled that clinching homer in the 10th inning of Game 5, ultimately wearing out Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis before getting the fastball he wanted with pitch No. 7, it felt like destiny. GM Brian Cashman traded for Soto, a costly one-year rental at $31 million, specifically to get the Yankees to the World Series. And what did he do 10 months later? Personally hand deliver them to the Fall Classic with what manager Aaron Boone described as “an at-bat for the ages.”

That was Soto’s mic drop, but he did plenty of other damage, finishing the ALCS with three homers, six RBIs and 1.373 OPS for those five games. There are many reasons to fear Soto — but when he’s rolling like that, coming off a rampage in Cleveland, the Dodgers need to be on red alert.

Soto is supremely talented. A hitting prodigy — he turns 26 on Friday — with an uncanny eye for the strike zone that makes him an on-base machine. But a year older also makes him a year wiser, and soaking up all that AL knowledge this season as he’s been wrecking teams along the way has to enrich his data bank.

Joining the Yankees, and having him hit in the No. 2 spot — protected by this year’s likely MVP in Judge — has only strengthened Soto, helping to further amplify his massive talent. You don’t need any algorithms to do that math. Stick one of the greatest hitters in front of a Triple Crown threat, on a $300 million October favorite?

The results were fairly predictable, as Soto ended the regular season with a career-high 41 homers — beating last year’s 35 for the Padres — and 109 RBIs, one short of his career best in 2019. His .989 OPS also was more than 30 points above his career mark. Taking all that into account, I asked Dodgers manager Dave Roberts if it’s possible that Soto is more dangerous now than in their previous meetings.

“I hope he can’t be more dangerous than he was in the ALCS,” Roberts said Tuesday. “We’ve obviously seen him a lot. Saw him in the postseason with the Nats, and he killed us then. So guys like him, they just love the big stage, the big moment. And you just got to hope that you keep guys off base when he gets up.”

Roberts was alluding to the fact that Soto has helped bounce the Dodgers from the playoffs twice — first with the Nationals in 2019, when he smacked two homers (1.020 OPS) in a five-game Division Series win, and again with the Padres in 2022, though that was a much quieter NLDS performance (.188 BA, 1 double, 1 RBI).

This season, Soto missed his previous chance to face the Dodgers because he was nursing a sore left forearm during their Bronx visit in June. But he’s probably eager to get back out to the West Coast for a number of reasons, not the least of which are his career numbers at Chavez Ravine: .286 average, five homers 12 RBIs and a .947 OPS in 20 games.

The Dodgers figured they’d see him again. But the World Series is not the ideal place for a reunion when Soto is playing for the other team.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.