St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets

On Monday’s Mets off-day, Juan Soto went to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks play the Spurs in NBA Finals Game 3. Though the Knicks lost that game, Soto saw how fans reacted to every touch of the ball, every pass, every shot. He took note of the adulation all around the Garden. “When you see the fans and how they get crazy like that, it always motivates you to be at the top,” Soto said. “It’s impressive. It’s motivating. I would love all my teammates to get to see how it was at Madison Square Garden for those Finals games.” View this post on Instagram The Mets, still buried in last place in the National League East, have a long way to go to reach a similar point. They must demonstrate marked improvement over the next month just to avoid a potential Trade Deadline selloff. Thoughts of a deep October run to inspire New York City in similar ways are far from front of mind. But in spite of everything, the Mets do still have Soto. That alone gives them a fighting chance. Soto is their trump card, their everything -- their Jalen Brunson, as it were. He’s the player most likely to come through when the team needs it, most likely to rise above the mediocrity around him and deliver. He’s also the most likely Met to do it again and again and again. So it was Thursday afternoon, with the hangover of NBA Finals Game 4 resting heavily above Citi Field. Soto hit a go-ahead homer off JoJo Romero in the seventh inning to lead the Mets to a 5-4 victory over the Cardinals, showing once again that he features some of the same DNA as those other athletes making headlines across the East River. “If I’m playing ‘MLB: The Show’ and creating a player, I don’t waste my time trying to create one,” said Mets reliever Luke Weaver. “I just pick Juan Soto.”