Attributing value and importance to April baseball

The Cubs even up the series against the Padres heading into today's rubber match, the Spurs and Thunder continue to separate themselves in the NBA Playoffs, F1 attempts to reboot its season and more!

The old adage is “You’re going to win 50 games, you’re going to lose 50, and what happens in those other 62 games is what is going to determine where the team finishes.” And, yeah, I’m fine with that. But that’s a strange mentality to carry through a season that lasts more than half the year. Some games just have to matter more.

I also tend to ignore winning streaks and losing streaks, as fun (or not) as they may be. But I do pay special attention to series wins and series losses. The most successful Padres teams that I’ve followed tend to go months and months without ever losing a series, even if they’re occasionally losing a game or two here or there.

Today is April 29th. If the Padres lose to the Cubs this afternoon, it will be their first series loss since they lost to the Giants on March 31st. That loss brought them to a record of 1-4, having also lost their season opening series against the Detroit Tigers.

The Padres are 18-6 since that loss to the Giants. If they beat the Cubs this afternoon, it will be their 8th consecutive series without a series loss (their 1-1 series against the Diamondbacks in Mexico City being the lone tie). That is an incredible streak. That, to me, gives today’s game a boost of importance.

It doesn’t hurt matters that the Padres are playing an afternoon home game before a day off before a home game against a still-pretty-bad White Sox team. Craig Stammen can use every last resource he has to support Matt Waldron today and try to keep the streak alive.

Now, onto the links…

San Diego Padres

Xander Bogaerts stays hot, rest of Padres cold in loss to Cubs - San Diego Union-Tribune
Xander Bogaerts lingered at home plate, watching a high drive to left field in the second inning bend toward the foul line. The ball stayed fair long enough to drop into the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. building for his team-leading fifth home run.

The rest of the Padres’ stars were MIA on Tuesday, but the Padres’ shortstop is confident that won’t be the case for long.

Calf cramping forced Manny Machado to the bench, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill were both hitless and the supporting cast around Bogaerts didn’t do nearly enough in an 8-3 loss to the Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 40,106 at Petco Park.

That’s A Fair Ball, Believe It Or Not - Defector
If the ball settles, it needs to be on fair territory to be fair. But it only need to be on or over fair territory when touched to be fair.

The distinction is likely due to the latter scenario being meant for fielders biffing catch attempts down the line, but it’s the closest thing the rulebook has to describing Shaw’s grounder last night. It’s imperfect, and raises another question: Had the ball “settled” when France touched it?

“It stopped rolling,” France said later. “I thought it was foul, but they said otherwise. They said they both had it fair and it’s a non-reviewable play.”

It was real close. Close enough to be subjective, I’d say. Close enough for gripes to be legitimate, and hadal rulebook depths to be plumbed. God bless baseball, where obscure rules and the human element will never go out of style.

Padres minors: Ethan Salas homers again; Griffin Canning, Jeremiah Estrada rehab with El Paso - San Diego Union-Tribune
Ethan Salas is not only shaking the rust off, he’s settling into a groove now.

The 19-year-old catcher homered in a third straight game in Double-A San Antonio’s 17-7 loss at Tulsa on Tuesday.

Salas went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, lifting his batting line to .305/.379/.525 through 17 games with the Missions. He also swiped his fourth base of the year but also committed his first error on an interference.

NBA Playoffs

‘Dominant’ Joel Embiid, 76ers’ defense shut down Celtics late - ESPN
The Philadelphia 76ers are down but not out.

Led by 33 points from Joel Embiid, 25 points and 10 rebounds from Tyrese Maxey and a stellar fourth quarter on defense that saw the Boston Celtics miss their final 14 shots, Philadelphia emerged with a 113-97 victory Tuesday in Game 5 of this Eastern Conference first-round series.

As a result, the 76ers -- down 3-2 in the series -- will get another chance for a win at home in Game 6 Thursday night.

De’Aaron Fox, Spurs dispatch Blazers to win playoff series for first time since 2017: Takeaways - The Athletic
It became clear Wembanyama was ready before the game when he threw down the through-the-legs dunks he often misses in warmups. He had a different juice coming into this game. But the way he managed the game showed how much he can handle the eye of the storm. He took just seven shots in this game, controlling it instead as a choreographer off the ball and a terror on the other end protecting the rim. He looked more in control of this game than he did all series — a premonition that he is realizing his potential in real time.

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks deliver dominant Game 5 win - ESPN
Brunson’s 39 points was, by far, his best showing of the series, and it coincided with the Knicks’ all-around domination of the Hawks on Tuesday night in a 126-97 win at Madison Square Garden. New York took a 3-2 lead with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals Thursday.

It was the second straight complete performance by the Knicks after two one-point losses, and perhaps Brunson had the Hawks’ Game 2 visit in mind when they stunned the Knicks with a fourth-quarter rally to steal home-court advantage.

Why Has Scoring Taken a Nosedive in the NBA Playoffs? - The Ringer
We just watched the highest-scoring regular season since 1969-70, but suddenly nobody can score the ball. Teams have gone from scoring an average of 115.6 points per game in the regular season down to 106.8 points per game so far in Round 1 of the playoffs. Now, I know what you’re thinking—“This is the playoffs, it’s always like this”—and, well, while that’s kind of true, it’s also not. The scoring drop-off this year is the biggest we’ve seen in the modern era.

Odds & Ends

Will SDFC Get Better As-Is? - Chromatic FC
The loss to the Portland Timbers marks a significant low point for San Diego FC, who fell 2-1 at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night. This match represented the sixth meeting between these two clubs in just two seasons, yet the result highlighted a concerning trend for the home side. San Diego is now mired in a five-game losing streak and remains winless in seven matches. As fans begin to turn on Mikey Varas and the squad, the team is desperate to rediscover its winning form. While the performance contained flashes of potential, the central question remains how the club can pull itself out of this tailspin

Sources: NBA eyes new anti-tanking proposal for draft lottery - ESPN
The NBA has disclosed to its 30 general managers a new anti-tanking draft reform termed the “3-2-1 lottery” that includes expanding the lottery to 16 teams, flattened odds and a relegation zone where the bottom three teams would be penalized with fewer lottery balls for the No. 1 pick, starting with the 2027 draft, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

San Diego State Aztecs prepare for free football spring game and announce new basketball roster additions - 10 News San Diego
The Aztecs basketball season is even further in the future, but Brian Dutcher is hard at work rebuilding his roster at the JAM Center, this week adding a 23-year-old professional player from Croatia.

Luka Skoric is an athletic 6-foot-9 guard and forward from Zagreb who comes to San Diego State from club team KK Cibona, where he averaged six points and three rebounds off the bench against mostly older European pros.