MLB's misleading IG post convinced Mets fans they stole Juan Soto from Yankees

According to Bob Nightengale's Monday morning MLB rumor roundup, the Mets are currently viewed as the "clear-cut favorite" to sign free agent Juan Soto, most recently of the New York Yankees. Before getting too bent out of shape about it, though, know that the rationale is nothing new. Nightengale summarizes MLB executives' current position by saying, "They don’t believe there’s a soul who will outbid owner Steve Cohen, while Yankees have a price in mind that they don’t want to exceed."

Yes. We know this. We've heard this. But while the Mets may be the perceived favorites, it's certainly not finished yet, which you might not have known if you'd taken only a casual glance at MLB's Instagram over the weekend.

For whatever reason, MLB's social media channels decided to celebrate Soto (and likely take advantage of his headline-grabbing free agency. In a post captioned, "Juan Soto's 2024 season was out of this world" (is that a Martian reference?), the slugger appeared in front of an unmistakable orange-and-blue background.

Quite clearly, this was created to build engagement and cause a Mets-related jump scare.

Yankees free agent Juan Soto appears in misleading orange-and-blue Mets Instagram post on MLB's channel

Soto seems likely to choose his next team by the end of the Winter Meetings, at the very latest. It wouldn't be outlandish to be strapped to your phone during the Thanksgiving holiday, sneaking peeks between bites of stuffing. That's what was so devilish about this particular post. Soto really could've announced he was choosing the Mets over the weekend, and if he had, it would've looked almost exactly like this.

Of course, this wasn't the only bit of Mets Instagram-related nonsense that followed Soto this weekend. Did you know -- and I hope you're sitting down for this -- that Steve Cohen's wife recently followed him on IG? She currently doesn't follow any other MLB players who aren't on the Mets! This must mean ... oh my goodness ... that the Mets are interested in signing Soto, and she's well aware that people check Instagram followers to find breadcrumbs during periods of uncertainty!! Wild!

The sooner this ends, the better. Though the Yankees' Plan B, currently rumored to be "every free agent other than Soto and also maybe none of them," sounds pretty bleak. On second thought, the more nonsense-colored Instagram posts, the better.