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Juan Soto

Former New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto will return to the Yankees, ESPN‘s top on-air personality predicted on Wednesday. There is only one “excuse” for him to leave the Bronx Bombers, but Major League Baseball analysts have said it would be “unlikely” for the generational slugger to take that alternative route.

What is meant by calling Soto a “generational” baseball talent? According to a statistical analysis of Soto’s first six MLB seasons, only one hitter in MLB history has ever put up numbers on par with those Soto has produced. That hitter is Ted Williams, often considered the greatest who ever lived.

In other words, talents like Soto’s come along only once per generation, if that. Williams, it should be noted, played in the big leagues from 1939 to 1960, spending his entire career with the Boston Red Sox.

One Team Offers an Excuse For Soto to Leave Yankees

But the Yankees, who have won 27 World Series titles and have appeared in the Fall Classic 41 times, more than any other team, most recently last season when they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Signing with the Dodgers would be Soto’s “one excuse on Planet Earth” to depart the Yankees and sign with another team, according to Stephen A. Smith, who now ranks as perhaps ESPN’s most identifiable sports analyst.

Smith made the claim on the Wednesday edition of the network’s popular First Take program, in response to a claim by fellow panelist Chris “Mad Dog” Russo that Soto was planning to sign with Williams’ old team, the Red Sox. But Russo admitted he had no information to support his assertion that the 26-year-old Soto would be taking his talents to the Fens.

“I don’t appreciate you bringing that up if you don’t have inside information,” Smith responded, defensively. “Don’t be trying to jinx stuff! Don’t do that.”

That’s when Smith named the Dodgers as the only viable alternative for Soto if the star with 201 career home runs fails to sign a new contract in New York.

“The point I’m making to you is this,” Smith went on. “There is only one excuse on the planet Earth for Juan Soto to leave the New York Yankees, and that’s if you go to the Los Angeles Dodgers. There is no other reason to leave the Yankees.”

Los Angeles Rated as ‘Unlikely’ to Nab Soto

How probable is it that the Dodgers will sign Soto? Despite their reported interest, most baseball experts consider that answer to be “not very.”

“The Dodgers also met with Soto, but sources indicate that Los Angeles is unlikely to sign the four-time All-Star,” MLB.com baseball insider Mark Feinsand reported this week.

Smith, 57, then added that he considered the Red Sox to be merely a “fair-weather stepchild” of the New York Yankees.

While it is true that the Red Sox have won only eight World Series trophies in 13 appearances, since the turn of the 21st century the team’s championship fortunes have been reversed. Starting in the year 2001, the Yankees have won only one World Series in four appearances. The Red Sox have also appeared in four World Series and have won all four.

In addition, the two teams have faced each other in postseason series four times with the Red Sox winning three of those matchups — the last three in a row — including in 2004 when the Red Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit to win the American League Championship Series in seven games, the only time in MLB history any team has overcome three-game deficit.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin