Is there anything Juan Soto can't do?
The superstar slugger's bat is starting to heat up for the Mets, but that is not the only supreme talent he was showing off on Wednesday night. With the Mets taking it to the Dodgers for most of the game thanks to a pair of Pete Alonso homers, the vibes in the dugout were high, and by the ninth inning a friendly competition had broken out on the steps.
A group of Mets that included Soto, Starling Marte, Jose Siri, Luisangel Acuña and Francisco Alvarez was taking turns trying to flip a near empty water bottle to have it land right-side up on the top step of the dugout. It got so intense that the SNY broadcast eventually inset the shenanigans during an at-bat, showing the players making their tosses.
It was a futile effort for most of them, until Soto stepped to the plate, so to speak. He reached down to pick up the bottle, nonchalantly flipped it, and it of course landed perfectly. His teammates went wild and Soto took an energized victory lap through the dugout as though he was just returning from hitting a home run.
"He's telling them, 'That's why they pay me the big bucks,'" Keith Hernandez said on the broadcast.
All this revelry in the dugout began with Acuña, who for as yet unknown reasons had on a catcher's glove and catcher's mask for much of the game while practicing his crouch near the steps. At one point Francisco Lindor hit a bouncing foul ball right at Acuña, who snagged it with his catcher's mitt and pretended to frame it.
It sure is fun times at the ballpark when you're handily beating the reigning champs.