Padres nearing $3.9B deal to be sold to José Feliciano & Kwanza Jones
The Padres have new owners to go with their 8-game winning streak and their sweep of the Seattle Mariners. The Sockers and Gulls prepare for the playoffs. There's a lot going on!
There are two big stories involving the San Diego Padres this morning, but one of them is going to have a much longer-lasting affect, so I want to use this space for that one and we’ll focus on the eight-game winning streak below.
A couple of Wall Street Journal MLB reporters have an exclusive this morning: The San Diego Padres are “nearing a deal to be sold”. How close are they? Well, we know the price ($3.9 BILLION, the most for any MLB franchise by $1.5B) and who is buying the team (private-equity billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones). WSJ even has reports of who the other bidders were and an idea of where their bids fell short. That sounds like it’s a done deal waiting on a signature to me.
Feliciano is part owner of the Chelsea Football Club in the Premier League, but I’m not sure what we can learn from that as far as how he’ll manage his new MLB team. The fact that he was willing to spend $1.5 billion more than Steve Cohen did for the New York Mets is probably a good sign that he’s looking at the team as something he can guide towards a championship rather than something he would be trying to strip down for parts to profit off of MLB’s revenue-sharing. Nobody breaks the spending record for buying an MLB team just to watch them lose games.
For just that reason alone, that he can afford to support the Padres’ championship aspirations and that he seems interested in doing so, the ownership move from “Peter Seidler’s siblings” to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones is worth celebrating in San Diego.
Now, onto the links….
San Diego Padres
Tatis sparks offense, bullpen seals it as Padres win 8th straight - MLB.com
Buehler pitched six scoreless innings in his last time out. On Tuesday, he worked five scoreless frames, before Stammen sent him back out for a sixth. Buehler didn’t record an out in the inning and was charged with a couple runs.
“Frustrating to not put the finishing touches on it, I guess,” Buehler said. “But all in all, the two starts that I’ve made here in the homestand, I’ll be very happy with.”
Winners of 8 straight, the Padres are getting the right bounces on and off the field - The Athletic
It helps, of course, when eight of your nine starting hitters record at least one hit; when reclamation project Walker Buehler posts another solid outing; and when a formidable bullpen lives up to its name.
“Winning is f—ing great when you’re winning like this,” veteran third baseman Manny Machado said. “I think streaks like this don’t last long, so you kind of ride the wave as much as you can. It’s not like we’re going out there and scoring 20 runs a game. We’re playing really close baseball games, and we’re doing everything right.”
Tom Krasovic: MLB did the Padres a favor by shrinking the strike zone - San Diego Union-Tribune
Here’s a neon-worthy development: Many high strikes have now become balls, which Gwynn termed “a great gift to hitters.”
Explained Stammen, a former reliever: “The pitches that are very attractive for hitters to swing at are usually a little higher in the zone. So, now, they have the ability to just not swing at ‘em.”
Rule changes of this scope reward the smart adapters and punish the slow movers.
The 2023 Padres were not great adapters to the last major rules change in MLB — the pitch clock.
Through three weeks, the 2026 Padres stand as net beneficiaries of the ABS era.
Miller passes Jones for second-longest scoreless streak in Padres history - MLB.com
Mason Miller’s remarkable scoreless streak is approaching franchise-record territory.
Only Cla Meredith is left.
Miller was as dominant as ever, striking out all three hitters he faced to finish the Padres’ 5-2 victory over the Mariners on Thursday night at Petco Park. He has now thrown 30 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, three shy of Meredith’s franchise record.
Odds & Ends
Pro Sports Report: Gulls wrap regular season, with playoffs next; Sockers in postseason - San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Sockers open the semifinal round of the Major Arena Soccer League playoffs Friday night at the St. Louis Ambush.
Game 2 is set for 5 p.m. Sunday at Frontwave Arena. If needed, the teams would play a deciding “mini-game” shortly after the conclusion of Game 2.
The teams met once during the regular season, with the Sockers charging back from a 4-1 deficit to earn a 5-4 overtime victory in late March. The Sockers earned a bye in the first round of the Ron Newman Cup playoffs, while St. Louis beat the Kansas City Comets to advance.
One key for the Sockers will be goalkeeper Chris Toth. Since returning from injury in late February, Toth has saved over 77% of shots faced, making him the hottest keeper in the MASL. A native of Fallbrook, Toth is the son of Sockers goalkeeping legend Zoltan Toth.
LIV Golf CEO says league has financial commitment to finish season - ESPN
Amid questions about the future of LIV Golf, CEO Scott O’Neil told TNT Sports on Thursday that the league has a financial commitment to finish the 2026 season.
On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has invested more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since its first tournament in June 2022, was on the verge of cutting funding.
LIV Golf has eight remaining tournaments this season, including five in the United States.
Wings staffer dismisses question to Azzi Fudd about Paige Bueckers - The Athletic
“Paige announced last year on TikTok that y’all were a couple, and I’m wondering if that is still the case?” Fudd was asked. “And if so, if y’all have talked to any other couples in the league about how they negotiate that dynamic as pro teammates?”
There are other WNBA teammates who are couples, including Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner on the Phoenix Mercury.
“I understand why you have to ask that question,” a member of the team’s media staff responded. “But we’re going to respectfully decline from commenting on our players’ personal lives.”
The President vs. the Pope vs. the Slop Messiah - The Ringer
Sixteen burning questions about Trump, AI Jesus, and JD Vance attempting to correct the pope on matters of Catholic theology