When the New York Mets signed Juan Soto, Mets fans acted as if they had won the World Series. They had stolen a superstar in his prime away from the New York Yankees, and had done so coming off an NLCS berth. Vibes were at an all-time high, and somehow, in true Mets fashion, those immaculate vibes didn't last long. They were the most disappointing team in the league this season, completing one of the worst collapses in recent memory to miss the playoffs entirely on the regular season's final day.
It was far from Soto's fault that the season unraveled the way it did. In fact, Soto put together one of the greatest offensive seasons a Mets player has ever had. However, Soto leaving the Yankees, a team that wound up winning as many regular season games without him as they did with him, and joining a Mets team fresh off an NLCS berth that imploded the way they did, came with its share of memes.
Soto only added fuel to the fire by posting a terribly timed photo on Instagram of his upcoming vacation.
Juan Soto on his Instagram story: pic.twitter.com/zeic9rDVYT
— SleeperMets (@SleeperMets) October 5, 2025
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Juan Soto couldn't have picked a worse vacation photo caption
Let me be perfectly clear here. There's nothing wrong with Juan Soto going on vacation. There's nothing wrong with Soto choosing to go to Cancun; I'm sure it's very nice this time of year. Soto choosing to take a photo of himself on a plane on the way to Cancun with the caption that he chose gives every Soto and/or Mets hater the ultimte fuel to troll.
For those unaware, fans of every major US sport joke constantly that teams that get eliminated either before or even during the postseason are prepared to go to Cancun. Soto actually going to Cancun just one week after the Mets were eliminated from postseason contention, while the Yankees are playing in the ALDS...makes for some jokes at his expense.
It goes without saying that anytime the Mets or Soto do anything bad, this photo will be used ad nauseam, and for good reason.
Juan Soto put himself in ultimate meme position
Again, it isn't Soto's fault that the Mets are in this position, but they are, and he is (as a $765 million man) going to get trolled mercilessly until New York turns things around. At the end of the day, with the richest contract in professional sports history comes great responsibility.
Soto signing the deal he did with the team he did made it abundantly clear that he and the team had to have a great year or face the consequences. Soto was going to be meme'd regardless of what he did if the Mets fell flat, and we saw that even before this post when the Yankees trolled him in their postseason hype video. All Soto did was add more fuel to the fire, giving the trolls more content to use.
2026 better be a better year, or else the trolls will only grow louder.