Juan Soto's shocking Mets contract, plus the Chiefs' latest sorcery

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Good morning! Last night was bonkers. Let’s just get into it.

While You Were Sleeping: The largest contract in history

The winter of Juan Soto happened to be a quick one. And expensive. We’ll have plenty of time to cover the long tail of this megadeal, so let’s build the foundation first:

  • Last night, Soto and the New York Mets agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal, the largest contract in any sport ever. There is no deferred money, and Soto has an opt-out after the fifth season. The $51 million average annual value even outpaces Shohei Ohtani’s inflation-adjusted $46 million. Just wow, right?
  • The sticker shock here is absurd, yes … for now. It’s easy to wonder if Soto’s salary will feel awful when he’s 35 with six years left in the deal. But the Mets are paying for 15 years (well, at least five) of control for one of the surest things in this sport: a 26-year-old megastar en route to Cooperstown. The money shouldn’t be that surprising, even if it’s significantly higher than projected. Also, maybe $51 million won’t seem ridiculous by the time 2035 rolls around.
  • And of course it’s the Mets, whose billionaire owner loves to spend money. They even reside in the city where Soto thrived last season. Him signing across town from the team he helped lead to the World Series this year is brutal for Yankees fans.

If you read anything on Soto today, make it Ken Rosenthal’s column on how Soto was in control all along. It’s easy to forget how ridiculed Soto was for turning down a $440 million contract just three years ago. 

He won. Speaking of wins:

Sorcery: A doink and two takes

There is dark magic afoot in Kansas City, a sentence that sounds more like a country music song than the football truth we now live, where the back-to-back-champion Chiefs will never lose another one-score game. 

Just look at how they escaped against the Chargers last night:

The lucky bounce by KC’s third kicker, Matthew Wright, clinched the AFC West, and the Chiefs are now 12-1 this year and 10-0 in one-score games. The last two have come by 19-17 scores, with both full of the usual crunch-time tomfoolery.

Two other takes from a busy NFL Sunday:

  • Josh Allen should probably win MVP, and the performance that may have clinched it came in a loss. He scored six touchdowns in the 10-3 Bills’ 44-42 barnburner loss to the 7-6 Rams. Three of those came via the air, and three on the ground. He was, as Rams coach Sean McVay said afterward, an “alien.” Give E.T. the MVP.
  • The Falcons should probably bench Kirk Cousins. Maybe unfair, but Atlanta can still win the NFC South if it can halt its four-game slide, which was compounded by a blowout loss in Cousins’ return to Minnesota yesterday. This is what they get for drafting Michael Penix Jr. after giving Cousins $100 million guaranteed: nonstop questions about the starting QB slot. (Also, Sam Darnold looks like a long-term solution in Minnesota. Hm!)

There were so many other important NFL games we missed here, so check the Week 14 takeaways for more.

News to Know

CP3 now No. 2
Chris Paul’s career is a marvel on multiple levels. The man is 39 years old and remains a starter-level point guard in the NBA, and his basketball IQ keeps him in the top quadrant there. He’s been really, really good for 20 seasons now, which culminated last night in passing Jason Kidd for No. 2 on the NBA’s all-time assists list. It is unlikely he will hit No. 1 on that list, as John Stockton sits nearly 3,700 dimes ahead. Still, Paul deserves all of our praise.

More news

Brackets! Merry Playoff-mas

Anticipation is a funny thing. We yearn for something for months, imagining every aspect of the dreamy reality becoming real.

Such is the 12-team College Football Playoff. We’ve pored over so many hypothetical brackets for years now. And the hypotheticals are gone now. SMU is in, which represents a good answer to an existential question. Alabama is not, which should not have been a surprise to a team that lost three games, two of them to 6-6 teams.

Now, thankfully, we have real games:

Only 11 days until first-round games begin. We’ll have plenty of time to focus on games, but my initial question: Which first-round game could be an upset? (Remember, these are on campus before later rounds in bowls.) I went to three of our college football experts:

Jayna Bardahl, Until Saturday writer: No. 10 seed Indiana over No. 7 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish finished the season strong, but the Hoosiers’ Curt Cignetti is an easy coach to bet on.

Chris Vannini, senior college football writer: No. 9 seed Tennessee over No. 8 Ohio State. What will the Buckeyes’ mindset be, coming off the stunning loss to Michigan? With some fans clamoring for a coaching change, the environment at the Horseshoe could be fascinating. Then again, the Buckeyes are still talented enough to win it all.

Austin Mock, staff writer/data wizard: Can I say none? Tennessee, probably. The Vols have a great defensive line similar to Michigan’s. Ohio State has suffered some major injuries on the offensive line, and if Tennessee can win the line of scrimmage, they’ll have a great chance.

Another thing to point out: as Chris told me, No. 6 seed Penn State probably has the best draw of any first-round team, hosting No. 11 SMU before likely playing No. 3 Boise State: “A clear path to the semifinal is there. If they fall short, it will be fair to wonder if they can ever get over the hump.” Fair.

Bruce Feldman picked the entire bracket here and came out with no first-round upsets. I don’t know if I can live with that. Vegas sees Oregon, Georgia and Texas as favorites overall.

This season ruled, by the way. I’m already salivating, looking at what’s next.

Watch, Listen and Play

đź“ş NFL: Bengals at Cowboys
8:15 p.m. on ABC
The game itself does not carry much weight for the playoffs, but stay for Cincinnati’s offense and the “Simpsons”-themed telecast, which will either be fantastic or quite strange. I will be seated either way. 

đź“ş Soccer: Wolverhampton at West Ham
3 p.m. ET on USA
Both of these teams are likely to switch managers at some point in the coming weeks, and this might be the most even non-NFL matchup on the tube today. Just flip it on.

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎧 Eno Sarris and Derek VanRiper recorded an emergency episode of “Rates and Barrels” on the Soto deal. Listen here.

Pulse Picks

All the other college football teams learned their postseason destinations yesterday, too. We have a bowl watch guide ready for you. 

Twenty-six years is a long time. McLaren’s F1 title drought is over, and Lando Norris was everything for them yesterday in Abu Dhabi.  

I thought Jay King’s story on Marcus Smart’s return to Boston over the weekend was poignant. Still so much love in that city for the former Celtic. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our constantly refreshing CFP projections page, which now has title favorites. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Inside Dan Ashworth’s shocking exit from Manchester United, just five months after he arrived.

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(Top photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)





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About The Author

Fannie Hogan is a writer and editor who covers lifestyle, books, sports, education, and tech. She's always loved to write—from the time she was a little girl writing stories about talking animals to the day she got her first job as an editor at a lifestyle magazine. Her hobbies include long walks on the beach, running, and taking breaks from work to read a good book.

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