When Juan Soto left Friday’s New York Mets game early with a leg injury, it felt like a stint on the Injured List was coming, and sure enough, that’s where he’s headed. Soto will be out for at least a couple of weeks with a calf strain, leaving the Mets without their $765 million superstar until late April at the earliest.

This is a relatively minor injury in the grand scheme of things, assuming Soto is able to return to action when expected. But any injury to a player as notable as Soto is bound to send all sorts of ripple effects to the team the player is on and around the league, especially considering the history of calf injuries as precursors to something more serious. Let’s dive in.

Mets must be ultra-conservative with Juan Soto

The biggest concern with Soto isn’t the injury itself; it’s the potential for him to suffer something more serious down the line. Soto missing a couple of weeks in April isn’t going to be a season-defining moment, but Soto reaggravating the injury or suffering something worse like an Achilles tear would be a disastrous outcome. With that in mind, the Mets must be cautious regarding how they handle him.

This doesn’t just mean ensuring he only returns when he’s fully healthy, but it also means the Mets need to be cautious about his usage when he does come back. This means not necessarily forcing him into the lineup every single day as he’s accustomed to right away, and giving him some days at DH.

Using Soto at DH would not only improve the Mets defensively, but also get Soto off his feet more, limiting the risk for further injury. He was only used as a DH three times in 2025, and he has not appeared there so far in 2026, but that should change upon his return.

As for his long-term DH outlook, I don’t think this injury changes much of anything. Soto will almost certainly end up as a DH at some point, but one minor calf injury isn’t going to result in the Mets keeping him out of the field full-time at 27 years of age. He’s never shown any interest in being a full-time DH, and when you’re making $765 million, you tend to have some sway.

Mets could struggle without Juan Soto, but not as much as you’d think

The injury is minor, and that’s a great thing, but two to three weeks is still two to three weeks. As minimal as that sounds in a 162-game marathon, every game counts. The 2025 Mets missed the postseason because of a tiebreaker. The 2024 Mets made the postseason because of a tiebreaker. Games in April matter as much record-wise as they do in September, and not having a hitter of Soto’s caliber will hurt.

With that being said, the Mets’ offense, which had been slumping early in the season, got going in San Francisco. They scored 24 runs on 40 hits ove the final three games of their four-game series against the Giants, and Soto only recorded one at-bat in those contests. Guys like Mark Vientos, Francisco Alvarez and Marcus Semien have really stepped up in Soto’s absence.

There’s reason to believe this uptick can sustian as they return home. The Mets are set to embark on a six-game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Athletics, two teams that can really hit but have atrocious pitching staffs. New York will probably struggle with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which they play after this upcoming homestand, but they should be able to score runs against the D-Backs and A’s.

Even after the Dodgers series, the Mets are going to face a Chicago Cubs team without Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton, a Minnesota Twins team without Joe Ryan and subpar foes like the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels. Soto should be back sometime during this stretch.

Any lineup would struggle a bit without a perennial MVP candidate like Soto, but the opponents the Mets are set to face don’t have the scariest of pitching staffs, with the exception of the Dodgers, setting New York up to still have the ability to score runs. That should allow them to keep pace with teams like the Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves in the wide-open NL East, especially with how well they’ve pitched to date.

Other Mets stars will be relied on heavily in Juan Soto’s absence

The Mets are going to have to adopt a “next man up” mentality. Instead of relying on Soto, they’re going to need other players to step up, as they did in San Francisco. These stars in particular have a lot to prove.

Francisco Lindor

We’ve seen Francisco Lindor will the Mets to wins before; he was the NL MVP runner-up in 2024 for a reason. He’s gotten off to his usual slow start, going just 5-for-37 (.135 BA) without a single RBI so far this season. He has drawn a league-leading 10 walks, but if the Mets are going to succeed without Soto, Lindor is going to have to get going offensively.

Bo Bichette

Bo Bichette’s Mets tenure has gotten off to a rocky start, but after a 3-for-27 start to his season, he started to show signs of life in San Francisco. He did go 0-for-5 in Sunday’s series finale, but in the three games before that, he went 6-for-14 with a pair of doubles. Bichette is likely to take over for Soto in the No. 2 spot in the order behind Lindor, and will be tasked with performing like the superstar they’re paying him to be offensively.

Jorge Polanco

Jorge Polanco isn’t exactly a star, but he is an established veteran coming off a 26-home run and .821 OPS season. He’s been hitting in the heart of the Mets’ order all year, but is hitting under .200 and has yet to hit a home run. The bottom of the order has picked up the slack lately, but the top of the order must come through with Soto staring at a multi-week absence, and that includes Polanco.

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