NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mets star Juan Soto was out of the starting lineup for the second straight day Monday because he was sick.
Manager Carlos Mendoza was unsure whether Soto would be available off the bench against the Cincinnati Reds.
“He developed fever again last night. Still weak,” Mendoza said.
Soto was scratched Sunday, when the Mets lost 4-0 at Miami as the Marlins completed a three-game sweep that dropped New York to 22-31, last in the NL East.
Soto is hitting .294 with 10 homers, 21 RBIs and a .949 OPS is his second season after signing a record $765 million, 15-year contract.
New York's batting order already was without shortstop Francisco Lindor (strained left calf), catcher Francisco Alvarez (surgery to repair a torn right meniscus in his right knee), designated hitter/first baseman Jorge Polanco (bruised right wrist) and outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disk herniation).
Lindor, sidelined since April 22, has started running and hitting indoors and will soon start fielding grounders, according to Mendoza.
“It’s hard to put a timetable,” Mendoza said. “He’s still got to go through a lot — he’s got to check a lot boxes still.”
Infielder Jared Young, who last played April 12 because of a torn left meniscus, could be activated Tuesday. He hit .227 with one RBI over 22 at-bats in six minor league games since May 15.
Left-hander A.J. Minter, returning from surgery on May 12 last year to repair his left lat muscle, was to go through a throwing progression Monday and could be activated Tuesday or Wednesday. The 32-year-old has a 1.59 ERA in 12 minor league outings since April 7, striking out seven and walking one in 11 1/3 innings.
“Every time you miss that much time, mentally, it’s a grind,” Mendoza said. “He's a big part of our bullpen.”
Polanco, who last played April 14, was to work out Monday in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and could start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment this week.
Alvarez, who got hurt on May 12, could be back sooner than the original six-to-eight-week projection.
“He’s already hitting. He’s already doing catching,” Mendoza said.
Right-hander Kodai Senga, who last pitched for the Mets on April 22 because of lumbar spine inflammation, was to throw a bullpen Monday and will make a second minor league rehab start Thursday. He allowed two runs, four hits and one walk with two strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings for Class A St. Lucie on Friday, throwing 37 of 64 pitches for strikes.
Banged up New York also is missing right-hander Clay Holmes, out until late in the season because of a broken right leg.
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New York Mets' Juan Soto sits in the dugout during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
New York Mets' Juan Soto runs on a ground out during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The best young spellers in the English language are competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week, continuing a more than century-old tradition. The three-day competition begins Tuesday and concludes Thursday night.
The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. After a long run at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the bee returns to the nation's capital this year at Constitution Hall, a few blocks from the White House.
Another change for this year: ESPN NFL analyst and recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion Mina Kimes has joined the bee as its television host.
This is the 98th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 111th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.
Thirty of the past 36 champions have been of Indian heritage, including last year’s winner, Faizan Zaki.
The bee is broadcast and streamed on channels and platforms owned by Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company.
On Tuesday, preliminary rounds will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT.
Wednesday's quarterfinals will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and semifinals can be watched on those platforms from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tape-delayed semifinals broadcast on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Finals will broadcast Thursday on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The semifinals and finals will also air or be streamed on these Scripps-owned channels or services: ION Plus, Bounce, Grit, Laff, The Spot, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More, Scripps News and Scripps Sports Network.
Spellers qualify by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. In order to compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.
Contestants must get through two preliminary rounds, where they are quizzed on words from a list provided in advance. There is one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.
Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.
Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.
About a dozen spellers advance to the finals. When only two remain, Scripps has the option to use a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off” to determine the champion.
This year's bee has 247 spellers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and five other countries: The Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
The top returning finisher from 2025 is Sarv Dharavane of Dunwoody, Georgia, who finished third last year as an 11-year-old fifth-grader. Even if he falls short this year, he has two years of eligibility left.
Other possible contenders:
— Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, who finished third in 2024. He has dominated the bee circuit in the past year, winning the South Asian Spelling Bee, the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee and the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee.
— Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Los Angeles who finished in a tie for seventh last year.
— Esha Marupudi, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Chandler, Arizona, who also tied for seventh last year.
The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Here are the prize payouts:
— First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines.
— Second place: $25,000.
— Third place: $15,000.
— Fourth place: $10,000.
— Fifth place: $5,000.
— Sixth place: $2,500.
— All other finalists: $2,000.
Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.
FILE - Sarv Dharavane, 11, of Tucker, Ga., reacts after spelling his word correctly in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
