The New York Mets have lost nine of 10, now five games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. If not for a recent bump in the road for Philly, the Mets would be even further behind in the standings. There is still plenty of baseball left to be played, but New York is in a desperate search for answers — both at the plate and on the mound.
Unfortunately, New York sports radio is struggling to cope with the Mets' losing streak. In fact, absent clear on-field answers, WFAN's Brandon Tierney is putting on his tinfoil hat and uncorking severely misguided conspiracy theories, aimed specifically at the Mets' prized $765 million offseason addition: Juan Soto.
Soto has put together an excellent season by all reasonable standards, but he's falling short of the impossibly high expectations that Mets fans set for him after a high-profile free agency. Rather than accepting Soto's regression for what it is — a "down" year in a new ballpark that still places him among the best hitters in the sport — Tierney laid out his wildly irresponsible theory on New York radio.
He posits that Soto isn't actually 26 years old, as he lacks the "youthful glow" inherent to 26-year-olds (??).
"Does he look 26?. When you're 26, you have a youthful glow... I think there's a good chance he's not 26, I'll say it." - WFAN's Brandon Tierney ponders if Juan Soto is telling the truth about his age. pic.twitter.com/g3VGfZbaRC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 15, 2025
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Mets radio host cooks up absurd false age conspiracy for struggling Juan Soto
This is an incredibly dumb and woefully off-target comment. This is blatant conspiracy, rooted in outmoded stereotypes of Latino baseball players, rather than anything resembling a fact or even an educated hunch. Soto has experienced an almost unprecedented level of success early in his career because he is a special talent. He made his MLB debut with the Nationals at 19 and won the World Series at 20.
He has a ton of miles on the odometer already because, well, he has played baseball nonstop for decades, including eight full seasons at the highest level of professional competition in the world. And what exactly are we trying to get at with "youthful glow"? I'm a Phillies fan. Brandon Marsh is 27. He was 26 last year. I would argue that Marsh does not exude this "youthful glow" that all mid-20-somethings allegedly display. (Sorry, Brandon. You're the coolest.)
There is simply no chance a white American player in Soto's exact situation has his age questioned like this. Like, come on, y'all. It's 2025. What are we doing here? You cannot use a radio platform like this, in America's largest and most diverse city (or in any city, anywhere), to spout unsubstantiated nonsense like this.
Juan Soto is still awesome despite dumb Mets radio allegation
The dumbest part of this whole thing? Over New York's last 10 games, Soto is batting .297 with a 1.044 OPS and four home runs. He's 11-for-37 with eight walks! You cannot even remotely blame Soto for this slide. Sure, he's a slow base-runner and he's rough in the outfield, but Soto has not graded out as an above-average defender since 2021. He is an impossibly strong human with elite bat skills, which comes at the expense of other marginal elements of his game.
We shouldn't devote any more time (or words) to this nonsense. Just know that Soto is, in fact, 26 years old and he is still enjoying All-Star caliber success with the Mets, even as the team around him bottoms out.