NBC’s Saturday Night Live has brought back Dana Carvey in a variety of roles this season. On Saturday, Carvey hosted the show’s cold open in character as “The Church Lady,” a character he started on SNL in 1986 and has played a lot there over the decades. And, amongst the various interviews he conducted in an eight-minute segment (including people playing Hunter Biden, Matt Gaetz, and more), Carvey talked to top MLB free agent Juan Soto (played by Marcello Hernandez), starting around the 5:05 mark:
That has Hernandez saying things like “I’m Latin, so when I was a kid, we went to church once on Christmas, once on Easter, and twice every other day.” At one point later (6:15), Carvey says “So, I hear they’re going to pay you $700 million to smack some balls around with your big stick. We like to hit a baseball, don’t we, and make more money than Jesus? You know, money is the root of all evil.” Hernandez responds with a laugh and a “Well, if that’s true, then I’m going to become the most evil baseball player in the world.”
And there was a significant shot at the Mets here. When pressed on what team he’ll choose (6:45), Hernandez says “I hope the Yankees make me the best offer.” Carvey responds “Well, as a Christian, I have to ask you, why not spend your time and money helping the needy and the less fortunate?” Hernandez replies “You’re right. Maybe I sign with the Mets.”
While a team owned by Steve Cohen and his estimated fortune of $21.3 billion and with an estimated 2024 payroll of $305 million (tops in MLB, two million clear of the second-place Yankees) is hardly “needy,” they might be “less fortunate.” The Mets started 2024 22-33 and finished with an 89-73 regular-season record; they did make it to the NLCS, but lost to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers (who beat the Yankees and Soto in that series) there.
At any rate, it’s interesting to see SNL add Soto to the list of sports topics they’ve discussed. This was only a small part of a longer skit, and it perhaps only was fitted in because of New York’s Yankees and Mets being key reported contenders to sign Soto, but it’s notable to see it. We’ll see if there’s further MLB talk on the show this offseason.
[Saturday Night Live on YouTube]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.