Juan Soto opted to leave the New York Yankees in favor of the New York Mets this offseason for a number of reasons. There was the $765 million, for starters, as well as the personal pitch that owner Steve Cohen and the team’s staff made to Soto and his family.

But something that Soto has kept coming back to in explaining his decision, including most recently in Tom Verducci’s Sports Illustrated profile, was the talent that the Mets would put around him. At the end of the day, both teams were willing to make him the richest man in baseball history; Soto choosing Queens was an endorsement of the Mets’ ability to compete for World Series titles, now and into the future.

And it was hard to blame him for coming to that conclusion, especially coming off a 2024 season in which Soto’s Yankees costars (save Giancarlo Stanton) largely left him hanging in the postseason. But one game into the 2025 campaign, the outfielder’s new running mate didn’t give him a ton of reason to believe that his new team will be much different than his old one.

Francisco Lindor looked like October Aaron Judge in first game with Juan Soto

It was Soto who made the final out in New York’s 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Opening Day, but make no mistake: The outfielder more than did his part, reaching base three times in five at-bats thanks to a single and two walks. If you’re looking for an offensive scapegoat, look no further than the guy in front of him: shortstop Francisco Lindor, who went 0-for-4 on the day with two strikeouts — and who was only able to deliver an ultimately harmless sac fly in front of Soto as the Mets mounted a ninth-inning rally.

This has become something of a habit for Lindor in his career; his .749 OPS in the months of March and April is his lowest across any month, and he’s known for his slow starts year in and year out. Of course, one game is nothing to panic about, and Lindor will no doubt be in for a huge season with Soto and Pete Alonso behind him in New York’s lineup.

Still, it’s not the first impression that Lindor and the Mets were hoping for. Like it or not, Lindor was directly implicated in Soto’s decision to jump ship this offseason: No matter how much he compliments Aaron Judge from afar, clearly that wasn’t enough to sell him on the Yankees’ long-term vision, and now Lindor has to prove that he’s capable of doing for Soto what the reigning AL MVP wasn’t — especially in the postseason.

We have a long way to go until then, but expect the pressure to keep ratcheting up if Lindor doesn’t hold up his end of this bargain.