Juan Soto is pushing to get back on the field before the New York Mets play their final game of the regular season, according to people familiar with the slugger’s rehabilitation program. The Dominican superstar has been working through a recovery process in recent weeks, and his representatives have indicated to the organization that he is determined to return before the calendar turns to October.
Soto, who signed a record-breaking contract with the Mets during the previous offseason, has been one of the central figures around whom the franchise has tried to build its next contending window. His absence has been felt at multiple levels of the lineup, and the team’s performance during his time on the shelf has done little to suggest that New York is ready to challenge for a postseason berth. The Mets entered the week sitting at 60-73, a record that leaves them at the bottom of the National League East and well out of realistic playoff contention with roughly a month left on the schedule.
The frustration within the organization is mounting. The Mets invested heavily in Soto, both in dollars and in long-term expectations, with the belief that pairing him with other established hitters would return the franchise to the upper tier of the National League. Instead, the club has spent much of the summer searching for traction, cycling through bullpen options, adjusting the rotation, and watching division rivals pull away in the standings. Philadelphia, Atlanta, and the rest of the East have all benefited from inconsistency in Queens, and the gap between the Mets and a wild-card spot has grown wider as August has turned to September.
For Soto, the goal of returning before the season ends appears to be about more than chasing a personal statistical benchmark. Sources who have been around the team in recent days say he wants to restore some sense of momentum heading into the winter, to send a message that the investment in him remains sound, and to remind the fan base and the front office of what the everyday version of the lineup is supposed to look like. Even with the postseason out of reach, there is value, the thinking goes, in a strong finish that frames the offseason conversation in a more constructive direction.
It is also a matter of pride. Soto has been one of the most productive hitters of his generation, and the idea of letting a season end without ever stepping back into the batter’s box does not sit well with him. He has reportedly taken part in extended batting work, running drills, and defensive sessions at the team’s spring facility, with trainers monitoring the progression closely. The Mets’ medical staff has not publicly committed to a firm return date, preferring to evaluate him day by day, but the tone from those closest to Soto suggests the target window is the final two to three weeks of the regular season.
The broader context surrounding Soto’s first year in New York is complicated. Expectations, both inside the clubhouse and across the sport, were enormous from the moment the contract was finalized. The agreement reset the market for premier hitters and signaled that the Mets’ ownership group was willing to spend at a level few franchises have ever matched. The early portion of the season offered flashes of the player the organization believes it is getting, with stretches of dominant at-bats and the kind of plate discipline that has defined his career. But the broader team results never followed, and as the losses piled up, so did the questions about how the roster around him was constructed.
Management now faces an offseason of significant decision-making. Coaching staff, front-office personnel, and the composition of the pitching staff are all areas that could see change. The presence of Soto in the middle of the order is the one constant around which the next iteration of the team will be assembled, and bringing him back in any capacity over the final weeks would at least provide the organization a small measure of clarity heading into that process.
For the Mets’ remaining schedule, the focus has shifted toward individual performances, the evaluation of younger players, and setting a foundation for 2027. Soto’s potential return, even if it comes in a season that has gone sideways, could serve as a bridge between the disappointment of the current year and the ambitions of the next one. Whether he ultimately takes the field in the final series at Citi Field or on the road remains uncertain, but his intention to do so has become one of the few clear storylines for a Mets team that has spent much of the summer searching for direction.
