Lindor’s three-hit performance on Monday evening pushed him past the lofty 1,500-hit milestone for his career. He scored the lone run of the contest for either side until New York pushed another run across with two outs in the eighth inning when he raced around the bases on Juan Soto’s third-inning double into the left-center field gap against Marlins starter Valente Bellozo. He’s batting .242 (8-for-33) with two steals through nine games.

Lindor was available off the bench after making it to Miami last night, but he wasn’t used. He’s leading off tonight.

No word just yet on when Lindor will rejoin the Mets. Luisangel Acuña will fill in for him at shortstop.

Nothing has been finalized at this early stage of spring training, but Mendoza’s latest musing re-affirms the widely-held belief that Lindor will remain in the leadoff spot, which he did 109 times last season. Soto’s on-base and power skills make the most sense in the second spot, which should provide middle-of-the-order run producers Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos with plenty of RBI opportunities with a pair of NL MVP candidates setting the table.