Juan Soto admits his injury-filled year sucks but Mets star, Devin Williams both want to return

Juan Soto played at least 150 games in every full major league season he had appeared in before this season.  Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.Now deep into his second IL stint because of a calf strain this season — this one to his left calf — Soto said again Friday he expects to be back this year. He added that dealing with these calf issues actually will pay dividends down the road. “It sucks,’’ Soto said before the Mets’ Friday’s series opener against the Nationals at Citi Field.

“It’s tough for me, tough to lose so many games [to injury].I’ve never been on this side of it.” But he noted the potential silver lining: “It’s good for me, for my career, for the long [term].

It will teach me a lot of things to adjust in training [and] conditioning, to keep moving forward in a positive way.’’ Still just 27, Soto was productive while healthy with the Mets this season, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in contention. Soto did some pregame agility work at Citi Field and said that as he gets older, he will have to treat his body differently. And even with the Mets opening Friday 11 ½ games back of the final NL wild-card spot and with the third-worst record in the National League, Soto and another veteran on the IL, Devin Williams, expressed a strong desire to get back on the field before the end of the season. “We’re playing really good baseball right now,” Soto said of a Mets team that won six of seven after the trade deadline before dropping their last two in Atlanta.“Why not join this team? I think it’s going to be really fun.

It’s going to be really great for me and the team.” A playoff run is out of the question, but Soto said the goal is to “finish strong and keep the momentum for next year.” It remains to be seen what kind of momentum the Mets are able to maintain over the final month-plus of the regu...