"Win or Go Home" starts tonight for the NBA
Previewing the NBA play-in games, Padres still figuring out who they are, big swings coming out of the WNBA Draft, SDFC navigating rough stretch without Chucky Lozano, and a lot more!
I understand why people don’t like the NBA play-in tournament. It is definitely a solution in search of a problem, trying to create more playoff-like standalone elimination games for more teams to make more money off ad revenue and more money off of ticket revenue. I can also see why the team governors (they don’t call them owners anymore) love it.
In reality, I probably shouldn’t like it. It waters down the product. It creates at least one night, per year, where NBA fans are sitting around watching two teams that should be back at home dealing with their emotions after accomplishing zilch in the regular season. It often creates bad basketball!
And we all know that whoever wins from these play-in games is only biding time until they play a real playoff team (in this case, a #1 or #2 seed) and get absolutely steamrolled in a noncompetitive series.
That being said, I love the play-in. I think it’s something about feeling that “Win or Go Home” mentality from the very first day of the NBA postseason.
In one of tonight’s games, the Charlotte Hornets take on the Miami Heat. The Hornets were one of the very worst teams at the start of the season and then one of the league’s best teams for the second half of the season. It would be a shame to see them go home tonight in front of their home fans, but the Heat are the Heat and they tend to be built for exactly these kinds of moments.
I love that we don’t have to build up to this type of tension, even if the stake of the teams we’ll be watching are a bit lower, because it can occasionally bring out the best (or worst) of these players and teams.
Now, onto the links…
San Diego Padres
Despite early stumbles, Padres confident in where their bullpen will end up - San Diego Union-Tribune
For all the talk about Mason Miller’s historic heater, the Padres’ bullpen so far has been susceptible to the kind of volatility that can bite the relief corps. That possibility began with the notion that Adam, one of their All-Star relievers, might not return immediately from the quad injury that ended his 2025 season. Then Yuki Matsui tweaked his groin in spring training, some soft contact snowballed on Adrián Morejón and Estrada began losing zip on his fastball.
All of a sudden, the Padres’ bridge to the ninth inning hasn’t been quite as sturdy as expected.
Here’s why Tatis at 2B actually makes sense - MLB.com
Tatis is not going to be the Padres’ regular second baseman. But right now, they think he’s their best option to back up at the position, with Sung-Mun Song currently on the injured list. The Padres don’t have another obvious backup at second -- where Jake Cronenworth starts regularly, though he slides to short when Xander Bogaerts needs time off.
“[Tatis] is going to play right field most days,” said manager Craig Stammen. “But when Xander needs a day off or when Jake needs a day off, he’s probably our best option to play second base at the moment.”
Makes sense. And it probably shouldn’t be all that big a deal.
Except, well, it’s Tatis. And there’s history here.
Naylor ends drought with first 2 blasts of ‘26 to lift Mariners to sweep - MLB.com
Mired in the worst slump within Seattle’s lineup to start this season, the slugging first baseman homered in each of his first two at-bats to lift the Mariners to a 6-2 win over the Astros as they completed a four-game sweep at T-Mobile Park.
For those watching closely, Naylor’s big hacks each featured a big leg kick -- which wasn’t there the day before.
Asked about it postgame, Naylor abruptly said: “I don’t like it.”
NBA Playoffs
NBA Play-In Preview: One Big Question for Each Team - The Ringer
Almost by definition, NBA teams that make the play-in tournament are maddeningly inconsistent: good enough to qualify for a postseason entrance exam, but not good enough to lock themselves into the security of a top-six seed. Each of them is curbed by several questions. Some of those questions are existential. Some are technical. Pretty much none have solid answers. Nonetheless, here’s one for each of the eight play-in teams that will determine whether their season will end this week or whether they’ll survive to compete in the first round of the playoffs. Let’s have a look.
NBA playoffs 2026: Previewing all 20 teams still vying for the title - ESPN
The final week of regular-season play ended Sunday as all 30 teams were in action to cap the 82-game campaign. Some top seeds sweetened an already dominant run, while bottom-dwelling teams completed their last efforts to tank for the May 10 draft lottery.
Now, there are 20 teams set and seeded to compete for a chance to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June. The play-in tournament will begin Tuesday, as four teams from each conference face off for the last two spots in the playoffs, versus the No. 1 and 2 seeds.
WNBA Draft
Dallas Wings select Azzi Fudd with No. 1 pick of 2026 WNBA Draft - The Athletic
With the Wings building in the paint, Fudd’s ability to play in the backcourt with former UConn teammate Paige Bueckers, who was the No. 1 pick last year by Dallas, was a clear selling point. She’ll also be paired with Arike Ogunbowale in the backcourt.
Unlike many recent seasons, there wasn’t a clear No. 1 pick in this year’s draft class — Awa Fam Thiam and Lauren Betts had both separated themselves as the top post prospects available, Olivia Miles’ passing ability had made her the best point guard option and Fudd had separated herself as a shooter and impact scorer for a future WNBA franchise. Miles went No. 2 to Minnesota, followed by Fam Thiam to Seattle at No. 3, Betts to Washington at No. 4, and Bett’s UCLA teammate Gabriela Jaquez No. 5 to Chicago.
WNBA Draft winners and losers: A star-studded crowd, the Valkyries’ Flau’jae fumble, GOATs and more - Yahoo Sports
The most stunning move of the night came in the form of a trade. After Golden State selected the rights to Flau’jae Johnson with the No. 8 pick, it traded them to Seattle for No. 16 selection Marta Suárez of TCU. The Valkyries also received a 2028 second-round pick.
Yes, you read that right. The Storm acquired a top-10 draft selection for the price of essentially two second-round picks. It becomes more bizarre from there. Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin declined to answer questions on the post-draft call about the selection and trade of Johnson.
Odds & Ends
I’m a 39-year-old real-estate agent who just played in the Masters. It’s mentally exhausting - The Athletic
Mentally, Augusta is exhausting. I’m a bigger guy, but physically I wasn’t tired. I was mentally tired. I feel like at a lot of golf courses that the Average Joe like me plays, you can take a couple of holes off and hit a couple of squirrely shots and you’ll be OK.
If you’re not to the precise, exact yardage at Augusta, you’re in trouble. That was mentally exhausting. I honestly don’t feel like I hit the ball that terribly even. It was just, if I needed to hit it 160 yards, I maybe hit it 157 or 167. And you just have to hit the exact yardage.
Tom Krasovic: Dispute with Chucky Lozano looms large as San Diego FC navigates rough stretch - San Diego Union-Tribune
Lozano is getting paid by San Diego FC per the lucrative contract he landed as the centerpiece acquisition in the franchise’s launch. He still lives in San Diego County, a lifestyle that he and his family enjoy, he said in December. Two months into SDFC’s second Major League Soccer season, Lozano still works out by himself at the team’s training site in El Cajon. How strange.
It’s not a bad gig, but I can’t believe Lozano will look back with fondness on this career chapter.
He wouldn’t have made it this far in soccer without a passion for playing.
And Lozano hasn’t played since Nov. 29, when he came off the bench and scored San Diego FC’s only goal in the 2025 team’s final playoff game.
Why Does FIFA Want Stadium Workers’ Personal Information? - Golden Goal
The governing body also wants the ability to share that information with whoever it wants—including law enforcement agencies like ICE. In California, one union is pushing back.
President, Extremely Normal Brain-Wise: Pope Weak On Crime, Also I’m Dr. Jesus Christ - Defector
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is a deranged old pervert whose brain, long since sodden and pitted from a lifetime of indulgence and Diet Coke, is foaming out of his ears. Over the weekend he wigged out and posted some floridly unhinged shit on his busted little playpen social-media site about how Pope Leo XIV, the supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, is “too liberal” and “weak on crime”—for God’s sake, there’s graffiti all over the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel!—apparently in tantrum response to Leo XIV having criticized both Trump’s war of aggression on Iran and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s framing of that war as having been ordained by God. A little while later, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ, healing by touch a guy who looks an awful lot like Jeffrey Epstein while a crowd of uniformly white people gaze on in wonder.