NEW YORK — At 1:27 a.m., Juan Soto stepped out of the New York Yankees’ clubhouse for the last time this season. Just before exiting, he turned to the clubhouse attendants and offered a final farewell.

“See you guys,” Soto said.

Thus began the unofficial start of Soto’s long-awaited free agency, with projections that he could command at least half a billion dollars from the franchise that ultimately signs him. His contract could surpass Shohei Ohtani’s average annual value, especially considering Soto just turned 26 and is among baseball’s most elite players.

After fielding numerous questions about his future, Soto sat at his locker, contemplating the staggering sum his bank account might reach in the coming months. He is not just a generational talent; he is poised to earn generational wealth. When asked if it had sunk in that he might earn at least $500 million, Soto smiled knowingly.

“It’s been on my mind for a while now,” he remarked.

Even well after the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the World Series, Soto remained in full uniform, lost in thought as he stared at his locker, trying to make sense of the Yankees’ disappointing season.

Back in February, Soto was convinced the Yankees had more than enough talent to win it all. However, the Dodgers exposed the critical flaws that plagued the Yankees all year. When Alex Verdugo struck out to seal a 4-1 series defeat, Soto lingered in the dugout longer than any other player. Perched atop the bench with his batting helmet and gloves still on, he was ready for a final at-bat that never came. As he watched the Dodgers celebrate, frustration washed over him. Still, he was able to express gratitude for what the Yankees had accomplished, even if it didn’t culminate in a championship.

Anthony Volpe is watching the Dodgers celebrate on the top step. Juan Soto is sitting with his batting gloves on and helmet. pic.twitter.com/aswS9uCEf7

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) October 31, 2024

He reflected on the possibility of this being his last game in pinstripes, calling it a “tough one” to end on. Despite appreciating every moment of the year, he maintained that no team holds an advantage over the others as he enters free agency.

“I feel like every team has the same opportunities when I go into free agency,” Soto said. “I wouldn’t say any team has an advantage. We’ll evaluate what each has to offer.”

Soto stands out as the rare superstar who openly acknowledges his individual achievements, understanding that his performance will dictate his value. He realizes that he just finished the best season of his career, raising the question: Why would he leave the Yankees? He thrived hitting in front of Aaron Judge all year and is likely to finish among the top five in American League MVP voting. Few lineups could offer the kind of protection the Yankees can, not only enhancing his stats, but increasing his chances of returning to the World Series stage.

“This year will stay in my heart for the rest of my life,” Soto said of the 2024 Yankees. “It was really special. I’m proud of what I accomplished, largely thanks to Judge. The hard work I put in during the offseason paid off. I’m proud of myself and this group because they made it easy for me. I’m not sure what next year holds.”

A close teammate admitted to The Athletic that he had no inkling of Soto’s intentions in free agency, only merely suggesting that Soto genuinely enjoyed being a Yankee this year. He’s never been able to read what Soto wants in free agency.

It’s crucial to note that the Yankees were not Soto’s choice in 2024. They pursued him, believing he could be the missing piece for a title run. When it became clear he would join the Yankees, Soto felt excitement at being part of an organization consistently in playoff contention — an important factor for him as he weighs his options.

Reports suggest Soto might not have even been a Yankee if not for the late Peter Seidler, owner of the San Diego Padres, who wanted him to remain in San Diego for the duration of his career. Soto told The Athletic that he was open to signing a long-term extension with the Padres because of how loaded their roster is. He never sought a trade, believing he would play for San Diego in 2024 until the organization’s direction changed after Seidler’s death.

There’s a prevailing notion that New York, with its strong Dominican roots and proximity to Soto’s home country, gives the Yankees and Mets an edge. However, Soto downplayed this aspect in his decision-making process. What will weigh heavily on his mind in the coming months is the realization that the Yankees possess a formidable core of stars, equal to any other organization in baseball.

“Leaving a winning team is always difficult, and this place was truly special,” Soto said. “I’ve had a blast here. Regardless of where I end up, I’ll be happy for my teammates and the connections I’ve made. This group is exceptional. In the end, we’ll see what happens.”

Yankees fans have made their desires clear — they want Soto to remain in pinstripes for the entirety of his career. They’ve chanted “Re-sign Soto!” throughout the season, arriving at Yankee Stadium with replica blank checks bearing his name. His teammates have publicly lobbied for his return, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. boldly stating he should receive $700 million. Jasson Domínguez expressed his hope to learn from Soto, urging the Yankees to do whatever it takes to keep him.

“You have to give him the cash,” Domínguez said earlier in the World Series. “At the end of the day, after that at-bat in Cleveland, I would give him a blank check. Here’s whatever you want. Stay here.”

When asked what advice he would give Soto in free agency, Giancarlo Stanton’s message was: “Stay with us.”

There’s a palpable sense of urgency within the Yankees clubhouse and fan base to retain Soto, recognizing his immense value. Without him, the Yankees’ roster will be depleted in 2025. Fans have already begun to envision the next decade alongside him and Judge at the top of the order.

When asked if the fans’ desire for him to stay would influence his decision, Soto acknowledged the impact of their support on the Yankees’ ownership.

“Probably, it will impact the decision of ownership,” Soto said. “I’m really thankful for the fans. They’ve been incredible.”

Last offseason, Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, had his four biggest clients — Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Cody Bellinger — take their free agency deep into the process. Soto expressed no concern about a similar scenario this year, suggesting he wouldn’t mind if it happened again.

He also refrained from committing to instructing Boras to give the Yankees the final opportunity to match any offer in free agency, indicating that his single season in New York does not provide any clear advantage over other teams.

Soto would not directly answer whether he wishes to return to the Yankees next season, stating he plans to consider all offers that come his way. For fans hoping for warm sentiments about his future with the Yankees, his remarks on the final day of the season fell short.

This uncertainty loomed in the New York clubhouse as Soto sat in the dugout, watching the Dodgers celebrate on Yankee Stadium’s infield. He pondered what could have been while shifting focus to what he called “the next step” in his career.

For his manager, that next step is securing a long-term contract with the Yankees.

“I hope he’s here forever,” Aaron Boone said.

(Top photo of Soto: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was all smiles as his team won Game 5 of the World Series against the New York Yankees.

A lot of their success had to do with his at-bats. 

Freeman was named World Series MVP after he crushed four homers, one of them Game 1’s walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning, and knocked in 12 runs in 20 at-bats. 

It’s as impressive a World Series as you can have individually, and even more so considering what Freeman was going through physically. 

However, while everyone knew he went into the postseason with a sprained ankle after trying to avoid a tag, he was dealing with a different injury on top of it. 

ESPN’s Jeff Passan revealed Freeman had a rib ailment he was also fighting through after feeling a “twinge in his rib cage when he took a swing during a simulated game” prior to the postseason. The Dodgers had a bye as the top seed in the National League, so they were staying warm with simulated games and other drills before facing the San Diego Padres. 

DODGERS’ FREDDIE FREEMAN WINS WORLD SERIES MVP WITH HISTORIC PERFORMANCE VS. YANKEES

Freeman initially tried to shake off the pain, knowing that the ankle was the real concern. However, the rib injury got worse during a live batting practice session at Dodger Stadium to the point Freeman “crumpled to the ground.”

After getting an MRI, Freeman found out he had broken costal cartilage in his sixth rib, an injury that can sideline a player for months. 

Freeman’s father, Fred, revealed to ESPN he didn’t want to see his son in pain, telling him not to play. 

Los Angeles Dodgers Mookie Betts (50) and Freddie Freeman (5) celebrate after scoring against the New York Yankees during the fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in New York.  (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

“I actually told him to stop,” Fred said. “I said, ‘Freddie, this is not worth it. I know you love baseball. I love baseball. But it’s not worth what you’re going through.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, ‘Dad, I’m never going to stop.’”

Freeman’s decision led to MLB history. His four homers in four straight games helped him break a World Series record with homers in six straight games in the World Series, dating to his 2021 championship with the Atlanta Braves. 

And Freeman entered the series with the Yankees without an extra-base hit in the postseason. He had seven singles and one walk against the Padres and New York Mets. 

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman celebrates after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in Game 5 to win the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

Freeman launched his glove when Walker Buehler struck out Alex Verdugo for the final out in Game 5, and if he was still dealing with pain, he likely wasn’t feeling it as he celebrated with his teammates after capturing his second ring. 

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Daniel Shoch stepped up in the pocket and rolled out to his right. The quarterback at East Coweta (Ga.) High School — under pressure all night — saw his receiver open for a split second.

But there was a problem. Travis Hunter was on the other team.

“I threw it to where I thought only my receiver would be able to break on it fast enough to get back down to the ball,” Shoch said.

Predictably, this did not end well for East Coweta.

Hunter broke on the ball, snatched it out of nowhere and took it 70 yards the other way for a pick six on that Friday night in September 2021.

FSU commit Travis Hunter with the PICK 6 🔥 @TravisHunterJr pic.twitter.com/oWH82txcHP

— Overtime (@overtime) September 25, 2021

“I came to the sideline, our two backup quarterbacks, I remember them saying, ‘Look dude, that’s the No. 1 player in the country. We were standing on the sideline saying, ‘Throw it. Throw it. Oh crap, there’s Travis Hunter,’” said Shoch, now a student at the University of North Georgia.

Three years later, Hunter, the two-way sensation at Colorado and a Heisman Trophy hopeful, is still the best player in the country, or at least the most dynamic. He has played 844 total snaps (414 on defense and 430 on offense), 210 more than any other player in college football this season, according to TruMedia. His impact is unprecedented in the modern era.

Generational.#Big12FB | @CUBuffsFootball pic.twitter.com/jULOO67wZ4

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 28, 2024

No one in Georgia is surprised.

For those who had the privilege of competing against Hunter when he was the nation’s top recruit out of Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., in the Class of 2022, this was only a matter of time.

“That’s the thing people don’t understand,” said Lenny Gregory, Hunter’s head coach at Collins Hill and now the head coach at Gordon Central (Ga.) High. “We saw (this) every day in practice.

“He’s like a human matrix.”

In the summer of 2018, Gregory received a call from someone at the local recreation department’s football program. There was a rising ninth grader, “a really athletic kid,” who had mentioned he’d be enrolling at Collins Hill in the coming weeks.

“So I met him on a Monday morning,” Gregory said of his first encounter with Hunter. “And I asked him, ‘Are you a baller?’ just kind of messing around with him. He just kind of, not rolled his eyes, but he just gave me this look and he says, ‘Baller? You haven’t seen a baller until you’ve seen me.’”

Gregory, taking note of Hunter’s confidence, told the 15-year-old to show up the following morning for a conditioning test.

All of Collins Hill’s players had been training together since the first week of June and spent every Tuesday running 200-meter dashes to prepare for the dreaded fitness assessment. To pass the test, players would need to run a series of six 200-meter dashes, each in 32 seconds or less. They’d have a one-minute break in between each run.

“So I said, ‘Are you in shape? Are you going to be ready to do that?’” Gregory said. “(Hunter) goes, ‘Oh, no problem, Coach. I can do that easy.’ And so I’m thinking, ‘Yeah he’s gonna run one or two and be throwing up everywhere.’”

The next morning, Hunter ran his first 200 with the Eagles defensive backs — a group of fast, athletic and experienced players.

“He smokes everybody. Bam,” Gregory said. “And I thought, ‘He’s done. This kid ain’t gonna be able to finish.’”

Then the second 200 came around.

“Boom. Smokes everybody. And I walk up to him, I say, ‘Are you all right?’ And he’s just standing there and he’s not even breathing hard. At all,” Gregory said. “And he goes, ‘Coach, this ain’t nothing. Let’s go again.’”

By the end of the test, seniors were splashed out on the track, exhausted and in pain.

Hunter, meanwhile, ran every 200-meter dash in 28 seconds or less, shattering the 32-second requirement.

“I’ve been doing the conditioning test for 20 years and I’ve never seen anybody do this,” Gregory said. “I’m like, ‘This guy is going to be special.’ I knew it right there.”

A few weeks later, Gregory and his team traveled to play Marietta High School, one of Georgia’s top programs at the Class 7A level.

Hunter was still raw as a freshman, but Gregory had already seen enough.

“We were warming up and we didn’t really have a chance to win that game. They were much better than us,” Gregory said. “But I remember pointing out Travis to my dad, who was standing (with me) before the game and I said, ‘You see that kid right there? That kid’s going to be one of the best players in the country. He’s unbelievable.’”

Hunter’s freshman season was relatively quiet, but he exploded onto the scene in the talent-rich Atlanta area the following fall.

As a sophomore, he finished with 49 catches for 919 yards and 12 touchdowns as a receiver and seven interceptions as a defensive back. He took another step as a junior, with 137 catches for 1,746 yards and 24 touchdowns on offense and eight picks on defense. He missed one month of regional play as a senior due to injury but still caught 85 passes for 1,284 yards and 12 touchdowns to go along with four interceptions.

“I’ve been coaching for 20 years or so and he’s easily the most dynamic player that I’ve ever come across in high school football,” said Philip Jones, the head coach at Brookwood (Ga.) High School. “It’s not even close.”

Jones first faced Hunter when Brookwood played Collins Hill to open the 2021 season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, but he’d previously watched him dominate — on both sides of the ball — in 7-on-7 games over the summer.

“He’s scoring every time he touches the ball,” Jones said. “At one point, he’s so wide open he catches it and he does a backflip in the end zone.

“Coach Gregory, who was his coach in high school, I saw him afterwards. We’re eating lunch and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Coach.’ It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before just watching a kid do that. And then coach Gregory didn’t even say anything really. He just kind of took his hands like he was wiping off crumbs or whatever off his hands and he just looked at me and was like, ‘Just get him on the bus, Coach. Just get him on the bus.’ He was like, ‘That’s my only job this year. Just get him on the bus every game.’”

Hunter dazzled in that 2021 opener, catching 13 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns while also intercepting a pass thrown by current Alabama backup quarterback Dylan Lonergan. Oh, he also threw a 28-yard touchdown pass on a reverse in Collins Hill’s 36-10 win.

“This. Kid,” Philips said. “In-sane.”

Two weeks later, Collins Hill played Greenville Christian Academy, a small private school from Mississippi, in the annual Atlanta Freedom Bowl. Greenville Christian coach Jon Reed McLendon said it felt “surreal” when his players found out they’d be playing against Hunter, whose highlights they’d already devoured on YouTube.

McLendon and his staff made sure to stress to their defenders that week in practice that they’d need to know where Hunter was at all times. Sure, he was dangerous on defense — “You’re almost just holding your breath, just hoping that disaster doesn’t happen,” McLendon said — but the idea of Hunter running loose on offense?

“It doesn’t necessarily matter if you cover him or not,” McLendon said. “That to me, was a little scarier.”

Greenville Christian played zone coverage that night, deciding that it was better to make sure not to let Hunter beat them with big plays. They rushed three and dropped eight as though they were facing an Air Raid offense.

The strategy worked … sort of. Hunter caught only four passes for 28 yards and no touchdowns, but Collins Hill won the game, 37-22.

McLendon looks back on the game with mixed emotions.

“On one hand, you’re really proud of the fact that our defense did a good job that night of limiting him,” he said, laughing. “But because it’s so special, just as a guy that loves football, you almost would’ve liked to in-person been able to see more of it.”

Alpharetta High School coach Jason Kervin joked he’d be happy to send McLendon some of Hunter’s highlights after Collins Hill beat his team in 2020 and 2021 by a combined score of 72-22.

“When we played them in the playoffs (in 2020), I said (to our defensive coordinator), ‘Look dude, I don’t care where they put him, we’ve got to double him. … Give everybody everything else they want,”‘ Kervin said.

“(Hunter still) scored the first two drives of the game. You don’t stop a kid like that.”

Hunter capped off his career by leading Collins Hill to the first state championship in school history. He was committed to Florida State for much of the 2022 cycle but — in one of the biggest recruiting shockers ever — flipped to Jackon State on the first day of the early signing period. He played one season in the SWAC before following Deion Sanders to Colorado.

Gregory has been fielding calls over the past few months from NFL teams about Hunter, who is almost a lock to be a top-five pick in the 2025 draft. The coach has made it clear to anyone who asks that as long as Hunter stays healthy, nothing is stopping him.

“I think the kid could play both ways in the NFL,” he said. “He’s the best skill kid I’ve ever coached or I’ve ever been around that I’ve been able to work with. And I coached in the Under Armour (high school All-America) game, like, seven times. So I’ve seen NFL guys and I’ve seen a lot. But I’ve never seen anybody like him as a skill player.”

No one has.

“We’ve played against Will Anderson and Justin Fields and those guys,” said John Reid, the head coach at Georgia powerhouse Rome High School. “You’re talking to a guy who’s seen some really good players. … But the Hunter kid is different.”

“I coached George Pickens and Marlon Humphrey,” said Kervin from Alpharetta. “I know what a first-round draft pick looks like in high school and you don’t mess around with those kids, I can tell you. Guys like that are gonna make you look stupid.”

As Colorado heads toward the final third of its season, Hunter is on pace to once again earn first-team All-America honors and is very likely to be in New York in December as a Heisman finalist. Last Saturday, Hunter caught nine passes (on nine targets) for 153 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Buffaloes to a win over Cincinnati — their sixth of the season, ensuring a trip to a bowl game in Sanders’ second season.

Across the country, those from Hunter’s home state of Georgia continue to cheer from afar.

“I think that he’s a Hall of Fame player. I can’t see how he couldn’t be,” Gregory said. “Just stay focused and keep doing what he’s doing and he’ll end up putting one of those gold jackets on.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images; courtesy of Travis Hunter)