Padres bats stay quiet in loss to Giants
Fans of the Padres are already freaking out, the home stretch of March Madness has some powerhouses in it, Formula 1's engine changes come back to haunt the drivers, and more in today's Front Row Seat
The early returns for the 2026 San Diego Padres (1-3) have not been promising. Too often they have found themselves being overwhelmed in the starting pitching matchup, and the lineup looks lifeless. Social media is already filled with jokes about how none of the hitters seem to care and how Craig Stammen is going to quit when he realizes the miserable position he has found himself in.
To that end, I think it’s too early to make any sort of judgement calls. I do look forward to seeing Craig Stammen look a little more comfortable managing a baseball team, and I guess we’ll see if he ever gets there.
It’s probably also a little too early to start criticizing Steven Souza Jr., who has never been a baseball team’s hitting coach until he was given the job of being the man in charge of hitting instruction for the San Diego Padres. But if the team wants to take chances on unproven coaches, they probably need to understand that it is going to lead to restlessness amongst the fanbase until the results show themselves.
Don’t burn yourself out. We are 2.4% of the way through this season of Padres baseball. There will be plenty of time for reflection later.
Now, onto the links…
San Diego Padres
Walker Buehler roughed up while Padres’ batters do little in loss to Giants - San Diego Union-Tribune
As for Monday, while the three runs Buehler allowed in the first four innings ended up being the difference in a 3-2 loss, it was only at the last possible moment that the Padres offense helped out in any way and posed any threat to the Giants getting their first victory of the season.
Both Padres runs came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Jackson Merrill launched a two-run homer off Giants closer Ryan Walker.
The Padres’ pitching (both bad and good) and the Detroit Tigers’ excellent pitching made so that attention was diverted from an anemic Padres offense in the season’s first series.
But four games in, they have scored a total of nine runs, are batting .181 and are 5-for-26 (.192) with runners in scoring position.
Slugless in San Diego: Padres still seeking bop after slow start - MLB.com
The sample is small. And the Padres faced some highly accomplished starting pitchers in their opening series against the Tigers. But Monday’s performance against Giants righty Landen Roupp was a disappointing one.
“Today was definitely a struggle,” said manager Craig Stammen. “We didn’t hit too many as hard as we had in the previous three games. But that guy, he threw the ball good tonight. Pitching in the big leagues is tough. We’ve got to be able to battle every single day, scratch a few runs across.”
First Looks Part 1 - Letters to A.J.
The Padres closed the opening series of the season going 1-2 against a Tigers team that looks to be one of the best in the league. Though it was only three games, the answers to burning questions going into opening day are already being revealed. And of course the games revealed new questions that must be answered before the 2026 Padres outlook truly comes into focus.
Mason Miller needed a new entrance. The Padres’ clubhouse manager had just the song - The Athletic
“What a song to come out to,” Laidlaw remembers thinking aloud. Knowing Miller was in search of entrance music, he decided to raise the idea.
What Laidlaw didn’t know was that Miller had been crowdsourcing. Acquired in August from the Athletics, the reliever spent part of the offseason asking fans and others for suggestions, quietly working through potential candidates with a specific caveat: He didn’t want to pick a song that had been used by another closer.
That meant no “Thunderstruck.” Of course, no “Hells Bells.” No more “Burn It to the Ground,” the Nickelback anthem Miller had settled on as a member of the A’s. As he approached his first full season in San Diego, he sought something fresh.
“But,” Miller said, “there’s only so many good songs out there.”
Odds & Ends
In the hunt for an NCAA championship, Vic Schaefer’s Texas Longhorns are ‘playing as good as any team I’ve ever had’ - Yahoo Sports
The Texas crowd is ravenous for their closer. It’s not Rori Harmon, their fifth-year point guard writing a storybook ending. Madison Booker, the All-American mid-range dagger, hadn’t played since the third quarter. Kyla Oldacre and Breya Cunningham put up “do not enter” signs on the paint an hour ago.
Vic Schaefer answers the call, sending the last player on his bench to the table. The smile of Sarah Graves sends the Texas-heavy crowd into overdrive for the fourth time in as many NCAA games.
Give it to her, the fans yell. It’s the first time that night disappointment sets in. They’re not going to let her score, one mutters. I don’t blame them, the other says.
The Winners and Losers of the Men’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight - The Ringer
How many times have you watched a replay of the shot already? If your answer is under 50, I’d like to congratulate you for not being glued to a screen on Sunday night. The rest of us couldn’t scroll for more than a few seconds without coming across yet another cut of Braylon Mullins bouncing Duke and its horde of five-star recruits out of the NCAA tournament and sending UConn to its third Final Four in four seasons.
Jannik Sinner found his next frontier of tennis domination. Carlos Alcaraz wants to join him - The Athletic
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz had very different results at the Miami Open, but the two best male players in the world are looking to get every edge they can find in the same area: The serve.
Sinner, who won the tournament and with it his first Sunshine Double, has sharpened his delivery in 2026, hitting the ball both faster than he did in 2025 and closer to the lines. Sinner, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall, finds it a little easier to blend speed with accuracy than his 5-11 / 6-feet rival.
Formula 1’s Engine Troubles Come To A Head In Japan - Defector
Formula 1 has a qualifying problem. This, the FIA acknowledges—that the new power unit regulations have resulted in unfortunate and confusing qualifying laps in which the cars physically cannot go, by some definitions, “as fast as possible.” The actual racing, however, is more in dispute. At the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, the new engine specifications and overtake mode were a considerable success for racing; by the fickle nature of F1, the Japanese Grand Prix this Sunday proved that they are a disaster. One crash is all it takes.
The issues in racing, too, stem from the new power unit regulations. While power units under previous rule sets were also hybridized, this year’s have shifted from a roughly 85-15 percentage split in provided power between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric motor (MGU-K, which alternately charges or deploys battery energy) to a 50-50 split.
Bulls waive guard Jaden Ivey after anti-gay comments - ESPN
The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team Monday, hours after he posted a lengthy video rant on social media about religion and other topics that included anti-gay sentiments.
Ivey has gone live on his Instagram account more frequently in the past week, posting at least three lengthy videos after he was shut down for the rest of the season by the team because of injury last Thursday. On Monday morning, he called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, saying it celebrates “unrighteousness.”
Allen Sliwa Joins San Diego Sports 760 - Radio Insight
iHeartMedia’s “San Diego Sports 760” KGB San Diego has announced the addition of Allen Sliwa as afternoon co-host alongside Jon Schaeffer.
Sliwa has been serving as an NBA analyst for iHeart’s “AM 570” KLAC Los Angeles since November after previously co-hosting middays and serving as Los Angeles Lakers pre-game and post-game show host from 2019 to 2024 preceded by ten years as host of “Lakers Talk” at “710 ESPN” KSPN Los Angeles.