The Mets have acquired Baltimore Orioles left-handed reliever Gregory Soto in exchange for pitching prospects Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster on Friday afternoon.

The Orioles will be operating as sellers ahead of Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. The speculation surrounding the club’s potential strategy turned into confirmation with a move that was made Friday afternoon.

The Mets have nothing assured, but have pretty strong odds on making the postseason for consecutive years for just the third time in their history and – in the best outcome – winning the NL East for the first time since 2015 with one of the two best NL records to gain a first-round bye.