Anders Dreyer is brilliant in SDFC's win over St. Louis CITY SC

San Diego FC is giving me hope, Padres add another lottery ticket in Alex Verdugo, SDSU is right on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and a bunch more.

As you are probably aware, and as many people have been commenting on my podcasts recently, I am a pessimistic sports fan when it comes to the teams that I actually root for.

It’s hard for me to see how the 2026 San Diego Padres will compete with no money or prospects left to fill the holes that still remain on the roster and, as a result, I tend to lose focus on the things that the Padres have that other teams don’t (like a potentially great bullpen and a potentially really good offense).

Because it’s 8am on a Monday, I am going to be kind and blame this pessimism on the teams that I have followed for the bulk of my life. The Padres always found a way to fall apart, as did the San Diego Chargers, Tottenham and every NBA team I’ve rooted for. I’m constantly bracing for impact.

That makes SDFC almost impossible for my brain to process. They were one of the best teams in MLS in their first season, which doesn’t make sense. They spent their first offseason telling the face of the franchise, and the highest paid player, to go home and then replaced him in the starting lineup with a journeyman who had never played professionally outside of Norway. That shouldn’t work!

And, yet, here we are. SDFC is starting their third-string goalkeeper, Chucky Lozano is watching from home, and once again they look like one of the very best teams in Major League Soccer. It shouldn’t make sense, but San Diego’s club has really perfected Mikey Varas’ system on-the-field and Tyler Heaps has seemingly perfected finding pieces that will excel in that system with his scouting.

The franchise has reoriented itself around Anders Dreyer, who is looking like one of the very best players in MLS history just two games into his second season in the league, and (with help from their 19-year old keeper) has scored seven goals against zero goals allowed after two matches.

I swear I’m trying to get used to believing in the optimistic side of fandom. SDFC is going to help get me there.

Now, onto the links…

San Diego FC

Anders Dreyer delivers as SDFC defeats St. Louis City SC to start season 2-0 - San Diego Union-Tribune
One year ago to the day, these two teams left Snapdragon Stadium with nothing settled.

San Diego FC and St. Louis City SC played to a scoreless draw in SDFC’s inaugural home opener — a cautious first chapter between two clubs still defining themselves.

Twelve months later, Anders Dreyer wasted no time tallying the first goal.

Dreyer broke through in the third minute, scoring with his left foot from the center of the box off a nifty pass from Marcus Ingvartsen. Onni Valakari also assisted on the play, and the azul and chrome never looked back, defeating St. Louis 2-0.

Anders Dreyer reaches historic milestone with San Diego FC - OneFootball
The Danish international tallied 1g/1a in Sunday’s 2-0 home win over St. Louis CITY SC, making him the second-fastest player in MLS history to record 20g/20a.

Dreyer reached that mark in 36 regular-season games, trailing only Inter Miami CF superstar Lionel Messi (26 games).

San Diego photographer documents the fans, not the game, at SDFC matches - Times of San Diego
When tens of thousands of soccer fans pour into Snapdragon Stadium on match day, most of them come to watch the game. Israel Castillo comes for the crowd.

Castillo’s photo series, “Among the Supporters,” now entering its second season alongside San Diego FC, is a document of shared witnessing – the cheers, the beers and a city that has fully united around its young franchise.

San Diego Padres

Padres add veteran outfielder Alex Verdugo on a minor-league deal - San Diego Union-Tribune
The left-handed-hitting outfielder has agreed to a minor-league contract and will report to minor-league camp, two sources said Sunday.

Verdugo hit .239 with a .585 OPS in 56 games for the Braves last season before being released in July.

Still just 29 years old, Verdugo hit .283 with a .770 OPS from 2019 to ’23 with the Dodgers and Red Sox. He batted .233 with a .647 OPS in 621 plate appearances for the Yankees in 2024.

5 Padres looking to seize opportunities at camp during World Baseball Classic - MLB.com
The Padres signed Song, envisioning him as a versatile roster piece -- and, in some ways, he already is. Song is capable of playing third, second and first base.

But in the coming days, the Padres will test Song at shortstop and in the corners of the outfield. He says he hasn’t played short since middle school. He’s never played the outfield. But there’s no better time to test it out than with Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. off at the WBC.

Odds & Ends

3 thoughts: New Mexico 81, SDSU 76 … Kudos for the local kid, mid-majors getting the squeeze and European bigs - San Diego Union-Tribune
The Aztecs have slipped off the NCAA Tournament bubble with losses in three of their last four games, yet their metrics are comparable and in some cases better than a year ago, when they didn’t win the conference tournament and sneaked into the First Four in Dayton.

They are hanging tough at 42 in Kenpom and 44 in NET. Last year they were 46 and 52 on Selection Sunday.

The problem is that there might be historically few at-large berths available to mid-major conferences as the preposterous sums of money coursing through the sport accentuates the divide between the haves and have-nots. The latest field from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has 11 teams from the SEC, nine from the Big Ten and eight each from the Big 12 and ACC.

NFL scouting combine winners and losers: Wake up, Jets! There’s a shot with this reboot. And Texas Tech’s David Bailey looks tremendous - Yahoo Sports
How did the Buckeyes not win a national championship or even a Big Ten championship last season? How is it possible they didn’t even win a playoff game?

Ohio State had better results at the NFL scouting combine than head coach Ryan Day had on the field last season.

Two Ohio State defensive players were among the stars of the combine. Linebacker/edge defender Arvell Reese ran a blistering 4.46-second 40-yard dash, leading all defensive ends. That will solidify Reese as a contender to be the second overall draft pick.

UCSD fencing joins new pro league to offer athletes more visibility, opportunities - Times of San Diego
UC San Diego has teamed up with the World Fencing League (WFL) in a strategic partnership aimed at giving collegiate fencers a clearer path to professional competition while raising the sport’s profile nationwide. The move comes as the WFL prepares to launch its inaugural professional season in Los Angeles this April.

The agreement is designed to connect NCAA competition with a growing professional ecosystem, providing student-athletes with exposure to elite fencing opportunities while supporting the sport’s long-term growth.

Tottenham players facing wage cuts should club be relegated - The Athletic
Spurs are currently 16th in the top-flight, only four points above the drop zone with 10 fixtures remaining.

They have not won a domestic game this calendar year and recently appointed Igor Tudor to replace Thomas Frank as head coach, in an attempt to rescue their season.

However, the Croatian has overseen defeats in his opening two matches against Arsenal and Fulham — heightening the possibility of Spurs falling into England’s second tier for the first time since 1977.

Should that happen there would be major ramifications on and off the pitch, although when it comes to squad remuneration there are provisions in place to limit the cost.

Is ‘Sinners’ Making a Late Oscars Surge? - The Ringer
That’s right: At Sunday night’s Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards), Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan took home Best Actor in his first major awards season win. I mean, my God, the electricity in that room when his name was announced! Even though the result was unexpected, it’s clear that Jordan has a groundswell of support behind his campaign. And so does Sinners. Sunday served as a much-needed boost to the film’s Oscar run after it nabbed the ceremony’s top prize, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, along with Jordan’s win.

Tennis stars in Dubai among athletes facing travel issues as Middle East war continues - Associated Press
Former U.S. Open tennis champion Daniil Medvedev has indicated he’s one of what the ATP Tour calls “a small number of players and team members” it is trying to help leave Dubai as the war in the Middle East causes a widespread travel shutdown.

Medvedev’s Instagram account reposted on Monday a report from a Russian-language tennis outlet, Bolshe, which said he was safe and staying at a friend’s apartment in Dubai, amid flight cancellations after winning the ATP event there last week.

Regime Change Is Blowing Up A School Full Of Children - Defector
Even though polling shows that most Americans don’t want to bomb Iran or start all-out war there, the Trump administration is committed to pointless violence around the globe. Senator Lindsey Graham gets positively tumescent for destruction in Iran. These ghouls were so excited about the prospect that some of them reportedly boasted about it in the open at a restaurant near the White House, hours before the bombing began. They can’t be trusted not to injure and kill their own citizens, and they’re stupid and arrogant enough to believe that they’ll be the first to create a power vacuum that doesn’t lead to worse outcomes.

It’s all so needless and grotesque: the Mar-a-Lago Situation Room, the title “Operation Epic Fury,” the ability to bet on the bloodlust through Polymarket and profit off dead bodies in a more direct manner than Lockheed Martin stock. You wouldn’t trust anyone in the Trump administration to water your garden properly, and yet they get to decide who and what gets blown up. Everyone else has to suffer the consequences, this time none more greatly than those girls and their families. The regime in Iran will change as a result of these attacks, but it won’t be in the way that Israel and the U.S. intended.