The Mets are killing the ‘little brother’ narrative, one Yankees triumph at a time

On the day of Juan Soto’s introductory press conference at Citi Field in December, I spoke with Brandon Nimmo, who was at home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., still excited about the $765 million bombshell from days earlier.

As much as Nimmo was thrilled the Mets had signed a player of Soto’s caliber, the added delight was in beating the Yankees for a player they also wanted.

“When I was growing up, the Yankees always got the best players, they always bought the best players,” Nimmo said that day. “It was just a common-known fact, and now you see something here where the Mets were able to bring [Soto] over. It’s a change to the way things have always been. I definitely think it’s sweet to have done it this way.”

In a sense, “little brother” — a disparaging term Yankees fans have for the Mets — had caught up with “big brother.” In at least one regard, the interborough rivals were on equal footing, or maybe you could argue the Mets were actually ahead because they had won the Soto Sweepstakes.