DALLAS — Juan Soto was half of MLB’s top 1-2 offensive punch last season with the Yankees.
Aaron Judge won the American League MVP award after hitting 58 homers and posting a ridiculous 1.159 OPS. Soto was third in the voting following a season in which he hit a career-high 41 homers and produced a .989 OPS.
Soto reached an agreement with the Mets on Sunday — the deal is still pending a physical — on a record contract worth $765 million over 15 years. It left the Mets with not only a superstar player who, at 26 years old, is still in the middle of his prime, but with a chance to form their own dynamic duo.
The other component is Francisco Lindor, who finished second to Shohei Ohtani in the National League MVP vote after a season in which he posted an .844 OPS and stole 29 bases (just missing a second straight year in the 30-30 club).
Here’s a look at Soto/Lindor’s competition for top current MLB tandems, and within the context of Mets history.
Current tandems
Ohtani/Mookie Betts
The Dodgers are so loaded that you could easily substitute Freddie Freeman for Betts and still have the top 1-2 combo in MLB.
Ohtani, in his first season with the Dodgers, won a second straight MVP award by becoming the first 50-50 player (homers and stolen bases) in MLB history.
Betts finished with an .863 OPS and 16 stolen bases in an injury-shortened season in which he played only 116 games. If you substitute Freeman for Betts, you get the World Series MVP, who posted an .854 OPS during the regular season.
Bryce Harper/Kyle Schwarber
The Phillies tandem has been terrorizing opponents for the last three seasons.
Harper has averaged an .890 OPS during the stretch with his low homers total (he’s averaged 23) a product of missed games due to injuries. But Harper played 145 games last season and hit 30 homers.
Schwarber has averaged 44 homers since arriving to the Phillies while maintaining an OPS that hasn’t fallen below .817 in any season.
Ronald Acuña Jr./Marcell Ozuna
Acuña won the MVP in 2023, but never got a chance to follow it up last season, after a torn anterior cruciate ligament ended his season in May. There’s no reason to believe the 27-year-old Acuña won’t return strong for the Braves and resume as a threat (he won the MVP a season after tearing the ACL in his other knee).
Ozuna finished fourth in the MVP voting last season after producing a .925 OPS with 39 homers. The 34-year-old Ozuna has two straight seasons with an OPS above .900.
In Mets history
Carlos Beltran/David Wright
The best lineup in Mets history was the group assembled from 2006-08 that included Beltran, Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado.
But Beltran (a likely Hall of Famer based on his vote trajectory) and Wright (whose career was on a Hall of Fame course before injuries curtailed it) were the ringleaders of the group.
Beltran averaged 36 homers in his first four seasons with the club and peaked with a .982 OPS in 2006. Wright had three straight top-10 finishes in the MVP voting following Beltran’s arrival. Wright also had four straight seasons with an OPS above .900.
Mike Piazza/Edgardo Alfonzo
The Mets traded for Piazza during the 1998 season, reshaping a lineup in need of a power surge. Piazza didn’t disappoint, averaging 37 homers in his first four full seasons with the club. Piazza had five straight seasons with an OPS above .900 to begin his Mets career.
Alfonzo was a steady threat for the Mets throughout his eight seasons with the team, but peaked during the team’s consecutive playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000, when he averaged 26 homers and an OPS above .900.
Lindor/Pete Alonso
Lindor, after a subpar first season in Queens (at least by his standards) has finished in the top 10 in MVP voting the last three years. He’s averaged 30 homers over this stretch.
Alonso had seasons in which he hit at least 40 homers in 2022-23. Last season he dipped to 34 — his lowest total in a full season since arriving to the major leagues — and finished with an OPS below .800 for the first time in his career.
Darryl Strawberry/Gary Carter
It’s a dynamic tandem that was short-lived, as Carter’s offense dropped precipitously following strong 1985-86 seasons (his first two years with the club) in which he averaged 28 homers and finished sixth and third, respectively, in the MVP voting.
Strawberry, the franchise’s all-time home run leader with 252, posted a .947 OPS (the second-highest in his career) in his first season following Carter’s arrival. Strawberry averaged 28 homers in the two seasons Carter was at his peak with the Mets.
