Front Row Seat: Padres top Yankees after Shildt's ejection

That was a really fun sports night, starting with the Padres overcoming the rain, the umpires and the Yankees to keep their winning streak alive. Both NBA games were great, too! Let's get into it...

San Diego Padres

Padres storm back to beat Yankees after Fernando Tatis Jr., Mike Shildt ejected - San Diego Union-Tribune
On his way to meet Johnson, Shildt threw aside his glasses. He then got face to face with the umpire for several minutes, at one point walking around third base umpire Paul Clemons to continue yelling at Johnson.

“When I saw that thing,” Luis Arraez said. “I say, ‘We come back, we come back.’”

Get REK'd - Letters to A.J.
There’s a curious stat that the Padres are among the league leaders in. In the crucial base/out state of two outs with runners in scoring position (RISP), the Padres hitters are excelling at avoiding striking out, and Padres pitchers are excelling at striking out their opponents. These don’t seem to be small sample size theatrics as both trends are extensions of the teams greater identity: contact heavy offense and a fire-breathing pitching staff. And there’s some reason to think this has been source of win probability the Padres have been harvesting all season.

Is the Padres' hot start sustainable? - Yahoo Sports
The hope: If King, Pivetta and Cease stay healthy, Merrill returns strong and the bullpen doesn’t combust, this is a group that could rattle the NL in October. But the floor is there, too. If the offense goes cold or injuries pile up, the lack of depth could come back to bite San Diego.

NBA Playoffs

Celtics set NBA playoff record with 45 missed 3-pointers in shocking Game 1 loss to Knicks - Yahoo Sports
The Boston Celtics live and die by the three. That's mostly been a sound strategy for the team this season. The Celtics won 61 games in the regular season — and secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference — thanks to their reliance on the long ball.

But what happens when the Celtics' 3-point shooting goes cold? The team found out Monday night.

Led by ‘Mr. Nugget,’ Denver shows it won’t go down quietly against the Thunder - The Athletic
Gordon reversed momentum in the first-round series against the LA Clippers with a buzzer-beating Game 4 dunk. Denver’s power forward did it again Monday night, as his 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining gave the Nuggets a 121-119 win against top-seeded OKC. The shot sent a rocking Paycom Center into an eerie silence. The shot sent the Nuggets into a midcourt celebration of a game they truthfully had no business winning. The shot announced Denver’s arrival in a series almost nobody thinks it has a chance of winning.

San Diego FC

Chucky Lozano named Player of the Matchday - MLSSoccer.com
The Mexican international had 2g/2a as the expansion side produced their most lopsided victory to date. He started the party at Snapdragon Stadium with a brace inside the opening half-hour, becoming the fifth player in MLS history to produce at least 4g/4a in his first eight games with an expansion club during their debut season.

Lozano then assisted on goals by Anders Dreyer and Onni Valakari to become just the fourth player in league history to accumulate 2g/2a in a single match for an expansion team in their inaugural season. Fellow Mexican superstar Carlos Vela was the most recent to do so with LAFC in 2018.

'I'm available' – In-form San Diego FC forward Hirving Lozano sends strong message to Mexico manager Javier Aguirre - Goal.com
“I’m always trying to contribute to the team. Regarding the national team, as I’ve said before, I’m available and would be very happy to return. I just have to keep working to be in the best shape possible,” he told Fox Sports.

5 thoughts on San Diego FC following Saturday’s breakthrough win - San Diego Union-Tribune
Two weeks ago, fatigue appeared to contribute to SDFC’s worst half of the season. The team was coming off consecutive road games — one in a high-altitude Denver suburb, the other on Charlotte’s artificial turf.

Benefiting San Diego in the second half of its 5-0 win Saturday night in Mission Valley, FC Dallas faded in the final 30 minutes. Did FC Dallas’ schedule contribute to the blowout? The club had traveled some 5,000 miles over the previous two weeks. Also, it held out its best offensive player, knowing that another grueling stretch is coming.

Odds & Ends

Cal Scolari Named WCC Pitcher of the Week - USDToreros.com
He is USD's fourth WCC Pitcher of the Week selection of 2025 after Hayden Cody was recognized on April 7 and Logan Reddemann won the award on March 10 and April 21.

In total, San Diego has now received eight weekly conference honors this season, including two WCC Players of the Week (Austin Smith, April 7, and Jack Gurevitch, April 21) and two WCC Freshmen of the Week (Rex Watson, March 17 and April 14).

A Fab Four: Brian Dutcher helps break down SDSU’s newest basketball players - San Diego Union-Tribune
They needed a true, pass-first point guard to run the offense. They needed depth at power forward. They needed another shooter. They need backcourt length and versatility.

They needed more experience. They needed more familiarity with the rigors of arguably college basketball’s most challenging travel conference.

They also needed to balance the roster composition between classes so, NIL permitting, there’s some semblance of continuity in future seasons.

Check, check, check, check, check, check and check.

2025 WNBA Power Rankings: Preseason Edition - WNBA.com
It’s been seven months since the New York Liberty hoisted the WNBA championship trophy for the first time – capping off the league’s historic 28th season, which saw records in viewership, attendance, merchandise sales, and digital content consumption.

Now it’s time to run it back. The 2025 WNBA season tips off on Friday, May 16.

With training camps open, preseason games underway, and rosters being finalized, it’s time to drop the first of our weekly power rankings to see how the teams stack up ahead of the first-ever 44-game season.

Alright, that's going to do it for today's edition of Front Row Seat. I'll be back tomorrow, and every weekday, to try and make it easier for you to follow the news.

Feedback is welcome (in the comments below, in my inbox or on the Section 1904 Discord server) and feel free to send me any links that you think I missed and I'll try to include them tomorrow.