San Diego FC knocked out of Concacaf Champions Cup
SDFC heads home sad, March Madness begins, Manfred eyes changes to WBC, Luka is taking over the Lakers, and a bunch more in today's Front Row Seat newsletter.
Today is the day that many wait all year for. It’s the first (real) day of the Men’s NCAA Tournament.
Maybe you have money on the line in some sort of bracket challenge. Maybe you’re the type to take today off and gorge yourself with greasy food and basketball. Maybe your favorite team is still alive and you can think of nothing else until that changes.
Either way, today is a day for the sickos.
I believe there are 16 games being played in the first round of the tournament today, starting pretty early in the morning if you’re on the west coast. That’s enough to kill a whole day and evening quite easily.
I’ll be following along, but it’s also against my religion to spend the entire day indoors when it’s 85 degrees and sunny outside, so I might miss a game or two. That’s fine. I’ll be right back here tomorrow to get you (and me) caught up on the important stuff.
Now, onto the links…
San Diego FC
San Diego FC blanked, eliminated from Concacaf Champions Cup - San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego FC’s push to make more soccer history has met a sudden and decisive end.
Toluca FC scored three times in the second half to defeat visiting SDFC 4-0 on Wednesday night at Estadio Nemesio Diez. Toluca and SDFC split the two-match series, but the Mexican club advances through the Concacaf Champions Cup’s round of 16 by virtue of scoring more goals (6) over the two-leg series than San Diego (3).
SDFC won the opener 3-2 at Snapdragon Stadium last week, but could not overcome Tolouca’s flurry of goals on Wednesday.
Toluca Rout Ends San Diego FC Champions Cup Dream - Grand Pinnacle Tribune
The Mexican giants came into the return leg with a clear mission: erase the deficit and assert their continental pedigree. From the opening whistle, Toluca pressed with urgency, dominating possession and peppering San Diegos goal with a barrage of shots.
San Diego FC, for their part, struggled to find their rhythm on the road. The visitors managed just three shots on goal all night, with only one of those efforts forcing a save from Tolucas keeper. In stark contrast, Toluca unleashed 27 shots, 14 of them on target, keeping San Diegos young goalkeeper Duran Ferree under relentless pressure.
San Diego Padres
Here’s the Padres’ roster for their Spring Breakout game - MLB.com
Ethan Salas is the headliner once again, and it’s worth a reminder that he’s still only 19 years old. Salas is coming off what essentially amounted to a lost season in 2025 after he missed most of the year due to a stress reaction in his lower back. But the Padres remain bullish on Salas’ upside, and he’s impressed them early in camp -- showing some of the tools that once made him one of the game’s top prospects.
Padres approach 2026 season with improved depth - Gaslamp Ball
When healthy, Sung-Mun Song will be the utility player for the Padres. He will start the season on the IL and will be built up as he recovers from a reoccurring oblique strain. The plan was to get him work at all the infield positions, as well as corner outfield spots, during spring workouts and games. That work will now have to occur in the minor leagues as Song is on the IL and recovers/rehabs.
This leaves a spot open for an opportunity while Song gets to where he needs to be for the Padres purposes. The leading candidates for that opportunity are Jose Miranda and Ty France. They have both distinguished themselves with Miranda hitting .325/.386/.575 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBI in 40 at-bats. France has a .325/.372/.500 line with four doubles a home run and eight RBI in 40 at-bats. They both play first base and third base with France having experience at second base as well.
Padres Say Charity Problems Are Fixed — And No Further Comment - Voice of San Diego
In 2023, Voice of San Diego exposed Chula Vista Fast Pitch — a fake charity operated by Martin Rebollo and Noly Ilarde. On the surface, Chula Vista Fast Pitch was like other charities in the park; it operated concession stands with presumed volunteers and kept roughly 10 percent of the proceeds to support its charitable mission.
The only problem: It was an open secret among many people in the park that Chula Vista Fast Pitch wasn’t a real charity.
Rebollo and Ilarde brought in $3.5 million at Petco that was supposed to support real charities.
World Baseball Classic
Import and export - The Bandwagon
When Eugenio Suárez got to second base, looked up and screamed at the sky, you had to feel great for him, and for the Venezuelan team he had lifted back into the lead over the United States. You couldn’t tell exactly what it meant to him, but you could take some educated guesses. And above all else, you could tell it meant a lot.
The World Baseball Classic final brought pride and joy to Venezuela, and to throngs of Venezuelan fans roaring in Miami. They were a thousand miles away and also right in the thick of the reality that framed the game.
The Venezuelan players were claiming their first championship in a burgeoning showcase of national baseball pride by taking down the perpetual presumptive favorites. They were representing a country in crisis, and doing so against Americans who representing the country that caused or at least exacerbated it by using military might to capture their president.
The Winners and Losers of the 2026 World Baseball Classic - The Ringer
It was wrong for a game as high-quality as the United States and Dominican Republic’s semifinal matchup to be decided on a botched strike call. After Geraldo Perdomo worked the count full with the tying run on third and two outs, down 2-1 in the ninth, he took a breaking ball from American closer Miller. The pitch missed well below the zone, but as Perdomo started to begin his move toward first base, plate umpire Cory Blaser rang him up. Instead of an epic matchup between Padres teammates Miller and Fernando Tatis Jr. with the winning run on base, the game was over.
The lack of ABS especially hurts because the implementation of the system has been one of the biggest—and most controversial—story lines of MLB spring training. We know that the technology exists and is ready to be used in MLB games. Why couldn’t it be present in the sport’s premier international tournament? For anyone doubting the system’s worth, ABS just got a huge boost against the haters.
World Baseball Classic: Rob Manfred talks about possibility of moving tournament to midseason - Yahoo Sports
The World Baseball Classic is thriving. While not on the level of the Olympics just yet, interest seems to be at an all-time high for the baseball tournament, with Team USA’s win over the Dominican Republic in the semifinals drawing more viewers than the MLB All-Star Game.
Turns out, that example might carry a lot of weight moving forward, as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred floated the idea of moving the World Baseball Classic to midseason in the future.
Odds & Ends
LeBron says no plans to be part of Vegas expansion team bid - ESPN
It is a possibility that James has publicly entertained on multiple occasions in the past. On a 2022 episode of his digital show “The Shop,” James said, “I want a team in Vegas. I want the team in Vegas.”
However, with a vote scheduled at next week’s board of governors meeting to approve moving forward with the bidding process for franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle, James said he has no intention to be part of the process.
Pistons’ Cade Cunningham diagnosed with collapsed lung, expected to miss time: Sources - The Athletic
Cunningham, 24, was initially ruled out of Tuesday’s game against the Washington Wizards with back spasms after colliding with Wizards rookie Tre Johnson when the two were attempting to corral a loose ball in the first quarter. The Pistons ruled him out Wednesday with a left back contusion, but further testing revealed that Cunningham had a collapsed lung.
Daniss Jenkins and Marcus Sasser will likely be thrust into larger roles while Cunningham recovers. Detroit has 14 regular-season games remaining before the postseason. Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points, 9.9 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals over his 61 games played this season. He’s spearheaded the Pistons’ (49-19) rise to the top of the Eastern Conference.
César Chavez accused of sexually abusing labor rights leader Dolores Huerta and others - Associated Press
Labor rights activist Dolores Huerta revealed she was among women and girls who say they were sexually abused by César Chavez, the widely admired Latino icon who brought to light the struggles of farmhands while leading the United Farm Workers union.
The stunning allegations against Chavez, who died more than three decades ago, drew immediate calls to alter memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S.