Juan Soto leaned into a Nationals throwback on his Instagram story after the Mets dropped the last two games of a series in Washington, including Wednesday night when he homered at his former home park.
For New York, the season has felt like a fight for traction from day one. The Mets arrived with plenty to prove in 2026, and after winning the opener of their series against the Washington Nationals, they watched the momentum slip—dropping the last two games to their NL East rivals.
Now, with another chance to even things out on Thursday, Juan Soto found himself right at the center of a very Mets-and-Nationals kind of swing: past and present colliding in the same stadium.
Before Wednesday’s game, Soto posted a throwback on his Instagram story. It was an old viral video from his Nationals days showing a group of Nationals fans predicting—correctly—that he would hit a home run during an at-bat. The caption that accompanied the clip read, “Who’s calling it tonight?” with laughing emojis. The video itself showed the moment those fans got it right right before Soto delivered.
Wednesday night made the whole thing even stranger. In his former home stadium. Soto launched a home run—something that drew cheers from both Mets fans and Nationals fans. The celebration carried a particular kind of weight: it wasn’t just a highlight against an old club. it was a reminder of how quickly a story can flip depending on where you’re standing.
Soto’s path to the Mets began in Washington. He started his MLB career with the Nationals and helped lead them to a World Series championship in the 2019 season. After that, he moved through other stops around the league before landing in New York with a long-term home last offseason.
That homecoming, though, hasn’t delivered the results everyone expected. The Mets missed the playoffs altogether in 2025 despite entering the year with championship expectations. And 2026 has started in a similar vein—brutal enough that the club still has plenty of ground to make up.
Even with the rough stretch, Soto has remained one of the most feared hitters in MLB. The Mets will be hoping the combination they’ve been banking on—better injury luck and an overall regression to the mean from some key players—can finally pull the season back toward the NL East race.
For now. the immediate scoreboard tells its own story: the Mets have dropped the last two games to the Nationals after winning the first. and they’ll look to change the tone again on Thursday. Soto’s throwback post didn’t alter the standings by itself—but in the middle of this up-and-down start. it captured exactly what this series has been about: the same player. the same stadium memories. and a team trying to get out of its own hole.
MISRYOUM Sports News Juan Soto New York Mets Washington Nationals MLB 2026 season NL East Instagram story home run series recap