Front Row Seat: Is San Diego the most feared team in MLS?

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Chucky Lozano returns to help San Diego FC win 4th straight game

San Diego FC saw the return of superstar Chucky Lozano from injury and needed his help to hold off FC Dallas for their 4th straight win.

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AI is coming, are we ready?

Nate B. Jones joins the show to try and calm our fears about Artificial Intelligence.

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San Diego FC

Chucky Lozano ignites epic comeback on San Diego FC return - MLSSoccer.com
Chucky Lozano made his San Diego FC return on Saturday night, scoring a 77th-minute equalizer to spark a 3-2 victory at FC Dallas for the Western Conference leaders.

The Mexican superstar, who entered as a second-half substitute, recently recovered from a lower-body injury that forced him to miss the Concacaf Gold Cup.

Now, the MLS All-Star winger exits Matchday 21 with six goals and seven assists on the year.

Power Rankings: Is San Diego the most feared team in MLS? - ESPN
Make that four straight wins for San Diego FC, who secured a last-minute 3-2 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday. Averaging three and a half goals per game during that winning streak, opposing defenses simply can't stop the newcomer's attack. They might just be the team the rest of MLS least wants to face right now.

San Diego FC: Anders Dreyer the MVP favorite? - MLSSoccer.com
In his first season in the league, San Diego FC's Anders Dreyer appears to be one of the three favorites, along with Inter Miami's Lionel Messi and FC Cincinnati's Evander, to win the MLS MVP award this season.

San Diego Padres / MLB

Lack of offense proves costly as Padres fall late in Cincinnati - MLB.com
The Padres had their chances to have a comfortable cushion heading into the bottom of the ninth of a one-run game at Great American Ball Park.

Instead, the Padres stranded 13 runners on base and went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Instead of a multi-run lead it was 2-1.

Still, there was reason to think that margin was going to be good enough with the MLB leader in saves on the mound. Robert Suarez (2-4) had converted 23 of 25 chances this season, and the Padres were 37-2 when leading after eight innings this season.

Unfortunately, one bad break to start the frame put the pressure on and the inning unraveled from there as the Reds rallied for a 3-2 win over the Padres, who had a winning series on the road against a potential National League playoff contender slip through their hands.

Matt Waldron to start for Padres on Monday against Phillies - San Diego Union-Tribune
Matt Waldron will make his 2025 debut at the site of one of his finest starts.

The knuckleballer will join the Padres in Philadelphia and start Monday’s game against the Phillies.

Waldron, who last June 19 held the powerful Phillies to one run over seven innings to help the Padres avoid a sweep, has spent the entire season on the injured list after suffering a left oblique strain late in spring training.

He takes the rotation spot of Ryan Bergert, who went on the 15-day injured list after being hit in the right (throwing) forearm by a 103 mph line drive.

Rob Manfred has a plan: Tell players they’ve lost billions, and build their trust in him - The Athletic
He rails against the lack of a deadline in free agency. He tells players their salaries should be growing faster. In fact, he says, they could be $2 billion-plus richer had they decided to equally split the game’s revenues with owners some 20-plus years ago. He suggests, however, MLB Players Association leadership doesn’t want to deliver change.

“There seems to be kind of a mismatch between what we see at the union leadership level and what the players are thinking,” Manfred said.

“The strategy is to get directly to the players,” Manfred continued. “I don’t think the leadership of this union is anxious to lead the way to change. So we need to energize the workforce in order to get them familiar with or supportive of the idea that maybe change in the system could be good for everybody.”

Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte reveals what heckler said about late mother after being brought to tears in Chicago - CBS Sports
On Friday, Marte revealed during an interview with Spanish-language journalist Yancen Pujols that the fan yelled "I sent your mom a text last night." Marte added the remark hit especially hard because he and the D-backs were playing in Chicago when he learned about his mother's death eight years ago.

NBA / WNBA

NBA free agency 2025: What we're hearing about the Lakers, Knicks and 18 other NBA teams - ESPN
It's the most exciting time of the NBA year! With the 2025 draft in the rearview mirror, all 30 teams are feverishly working their whiteboards behind the scenes.

Who's on the move? Who's staying put? We've already seen two major trades from the 2024 Boston Celtics championship team, with All-Star Jrue Holiday heading west to the Portland Trail Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis going south to the Atlanta Hawks.

LeBron and Rich Paul push their chips in. Will the Lakers call their bluff? - The Ringer
It wouldn’t be a proper NBA offseason without LeBron James playing the leverage game. After all, we’ve seen this movie before and James is entering his 23rd season. On Sunday, LeBron opted in for his $52.6 million player option for 2025-26, with the announcement followed by a somewhat ominous quote from his agent Rich Paul. "LeBron wants to compete for a championship," Paul told ESPN. "He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. … We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him.”

Pistons' Malik Beasley reportedly being investigated for allegations of gambling - Yahoo Sports
Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley is being investigated by the U.S. District Attorney's office for allegations of gambling on NBA games and prop bets, ESPN's Shams Charania reports.

Per Charania, the Pistons were in "serious talks" with Beasley, 28, on a new three-year, $42 million contract, but those are now on hold. That likely applies to any interest Beasley attracted as a free agent, as well.

Odds & Ends

Ons Jabeur retires from first-round Wimbledon match against Viktoriya Tomova - The Athletic
Two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur has exited the 2025 tournament on the opening day after retiring from her first-round match against Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria.

Jabeur was a set and a break behind in the match at the All England Club when she shook hands with her opponent.

The two players had exchanged breaks of serve in a frenetic opening, before Jabeur broke Tomova’s serve to get to 2-3 in a game that lasted 22 points. Despite earning the break, the Tunisian called a medical time out, and appeared emotional as she received treatment at the side of the court, including an inspection of her vital signs.

Could collective bargaining be the answer for college sports? Some ADs are ready to say the quiet part out loud - Yahoo Sports
In White’s model, college athletes would, in fact, not be employees of their schools. The structure calls for the creation of a national employment organization that partners with a players association, perhaps one already formed in the professional leagues, to create a “modernized and improved ecosystem” for football and men’s basketball players, White describes, and one still tethered to higher education via requirements in a bargained agreement.

“Collective bargaining and employment status shouldn't be seen as negative terms,” he told Yahoo Sports. “I think there’s a lot of people who think the same way I do. We can go through another three or five or 10 years of a difficult environment. Or we can accept the reality and fix it right now.”

To make ‘F1: The Movie’ real, Brad Pitt had to learn to race – from real racers - The Athletic
While reviews across the motorsport and entertainment industries weigh the authenticity of different scenes, the filming of the racing moments wasn’t just a product of solid acting from Pitt or Idris. They weren’t being towed on rigs or driving at half-speed. They pushed the limits in real cars, and their body language and reactions became a natural outcome of moving at up to 200 mph.

It was months, and years, in the making.

“I think a lot of people won’t believe that they got in the cars and did what they did,” Dolby says. “But when you’re on track with them and doing what we did with them, it’s mind-blowing.”

People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into "ChatGPT Psychosis" - Futurism
Many ChatGPT users are developing all-consuming obsessions with the chatbot, spiraling into severe mental health crises characterized by paranoia, delusions, and breaks with reality.

The consequences can be dire. As we heard from spouses, friends, children, and parents looking on in alarm, instances of what's being called "ChatGPT psychosis" have led to the breakup of marriages and families, the loss of jobs, and slides into homelessness.

And that's not all. As we've continued reporting, we've heard numerous troubling stories about people's loved ones being involuntarily committed to psychiatric care facilities — or even ending up in jail — after becoming fixated on the bot.

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 in a future newsletter.