Soto wears Trea Turner Nats jersey in LA

Between Max Scherzer on the mound and Trea Turner at shortstop, the Dodgers’ starting lineup for the thrilling National League Wild Card Game on Wednesday night featured a heavy twinge of Nationals navy and red.

But that was just the start.

Seated right behind the on-deck circle at Dodger Stadium were a couple of familiar faces: Nats superstar Juan Soto and hitting coach Kevin Long.

Soto repped hard for the two teammates with whom he won a World Series with Washington in 2019, rocking a Turner Nats jersey. (Long wore a Scherzer jersey.) Can you spot the familiar jewelry on Soto’s right index finger? (It’s hard to miss.)

Turner and Scherzer were sent to the Dodgers in a blockbuster move at the Trade Deadline this year, and they became key contributors to the team's postseason push. Soto’s Turner jersey helped him win over the Dodger faithful when he was shown on the video board.

Soto was clearly pretty excited to be on hand to see his former teammate in action, jumping to his feet to cheer for both of Turner's hits and urging his former teammate to swipe a base by making a run sign with his fingers.

After Chris Taylor was mobbed following his epic walk-off two-run homer in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory, Scherzer and Turner ran over to high-five Soto and Long through the netting behind home plate.

Scherzer and Turner may wear Dodger blue now, but the bond they still share with Soto runs deep.

“When you win a World Series, you develop a friendship and bond that's going to last a lifetime,” Scherzer said afterward. “It just shows you the type of love that it takes to be able to win a World Series, and that's going to last forever."

Even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts enjoyed seeing Soto behind home plate -- probably much more than he enjoys seeing Soto at the plate against his team.

"That's just a guy who loves baseball," Roberts said. "Can't get enough of it."

Case in point: Soto was tweeting frantically after Taylor’s walk-off tater, just like many of us.