Juan Soto set to meet with World Series champion Dodgers, reports say

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes last offseason. Now, they’re reportedly about to enter the Juan Soto sweepstakes.

The World Series champions are slated to meet with the star free agent outfielder on Tuesday, according to multiple reports, just weeks after beating Soto and the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic.

Soto, the prize of this offseason’s free agent class, was scheduled to sit down with the Yankees on Monday following meetings with the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported.

The other teams Soto could meet with include the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays, according to Feinsand.

The Dodgers shelled out more than $1 billion in contracts last winter as they brought in the likes of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernández. The majority of the spending spree was a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal for Ohtani and a 12-year, $325 million contract for Yamamoto.

And the Dodgers — after recording MLB‘s best regular-season record en route to capturing the franchise’s first World Series title in a full season since 1988 — seemingly are willing to make another massive, long-term financial commitment in order to add Soto to their star-studded roster.

ESPN’s Alden González said that Ohtani’s first year with the Dodgers “blew away all their financial projections.” The deferrals in Ohtani’s deal could help the club flexibility-wise in their pursuit of Soto, as well.

Soto has consistently been one of the game’s top players throughout his seven-year career — and he only just turned 26 last month.

In his first season with the Yankees, Soto hit .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs in 157 games. Soto, who has played at least 150 games in the last five full MLB seasons, also earned the fourth All-Star nod and fifth Silver Slugger award of his career in 2024.

Pitchers Paul Skenes of the Pirates and Luis Gil of the Yankees were named winners of the 2024 Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards.