New York Yankees star Juan Soto could be as little as two games away from starting one of the most anticipated free-agency periods in history and potentially ending his time in pinstripes.

And while the favorites to sign him are the Yankees and cross-town rival New York Mets, the most star-studded team in baseball is also in play, according to The New York Post: The Los Angeles Dodgers, who are up 2-0 in the best-of-seven World Series. Are the Yankees worried?

“Never happen,” a “Yankees person” told the Post’s Jon Heyman.

RESTORING THE GLORY

In the Sunday report, Heyman said that Soto is thought of as more of an East Coast guy (and has enjoyed New York) despite rumors that he was close to re-signing in San Diego, which dealt him to New York, before owner Peter Seidler died:

Yankees people see the Mets (and maybe the Blue Jays) as the real threat in the Soto derby, and they don’t believe Soto wants to return to Southern California any more than Shohei Ohtani wanted to come to New York.

While Soto is destined for free agency on a long-term contract that could be around $600 million, he has more pressing orders of business: Helping the Yankees dig out of a hole and win the World Series. The 26-year-old is 3 for 7 with a home run and three runs scored in the series to further prove that even the bright lights of the postseason are not too great; he has 14 hits in 40 at-bats with nine walks, four home runs and nine RBIs for a .350/.460/.700 line in the playoffs.

Throughout a season in which he hit 41 home runs with a .989 OPS, Soto has said all the right things about the Yankees, whose owner Hal Steinbrenner admitted earlier this year he wanted to keep Soto for the rest of his career. But Soto proved about two years ago that he was not interested in being team-friendly, rejecting a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Washington Nationals before his trade to the Padres, per reports.

Scott Boras, his agent, is also known to take his clients to the open market and then play the public-relations game to spin interest and achieve the highest dollar figure.

Heyman wrote that two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract that includes $68 million per year in deferrals will keep the Dodgers in play for most of the marquee free agents moving forward.

And, now, apparently, Soto is one that they can’t pass up, either.

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