Front Row Seat: San Diego FC move closer to MLS history

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Dodgers sweep the Padres with 5-4 win on Sunday

That was not the series the Padres were hoping for.

Section 1904John Gennaro

Padres blanked in (another) loss to the Dodgers

The Dodgers beat the Padres 6-0 on Saturday night. It was not a close game.

Section 1904John Gennaro

Padres bats go quiet in 3-2 loss to Dodgers

That’s probably not what anyone was expecting.

Section 1904John Gennaro

San Diego FC

Marcus Ingvartsen, Anders Dreyer both score late to rally San Diego to 2-1 victory over Earthquakes - Associated Press
Marcus Ingvartsen scored late in the second half and then notched an assist on Anders Dreyer’s winner three minutes later to rally Western Conference-leading expansion side San Diego FC to a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.

Ingvartsen, who subbed in for Aníbal Godoy in the 64th minute, took a pass from Franco Negri in the 81st and scored for the second time in his seventh career appearance for San Diego (16-7-4). Negri entered late in the first half before earning his first assist in his 12th appearance. Negri had his only other assist in 11 appearances with Inter Miami last season.

San Diego FC move closer to MLS history, take Supporters' Shield lead - MLSsoccer.com
Expansion side San Diego FC took the Supporters' Shield lead for the first time this season via a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory at the San Jose Earthquakes during Matchday 29's edition of Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire.

With 52 points on the year and just seven matches remaining, the Western Conference leaders are narrowly ahead of Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati on the goal differential tiebreaker.

San Diego Padres

Padres unbowed by sweep in LA: 'Strengthens our resolve' - Padres.com
The Dodgers secured the head-to-head tiebreaker with their victory on Saturday – one of the Padres’ ugliest losses of the season. Dylan Cease walked six batters. San Diego baserunners were caught stealing three times in the first two innings. Jackson Merrill dropped a fly ball that allowed two runners to score, his first error of the season.

A day later, Merrill exited the series finale after his second strikeout. Manager Mike Shildt later revealed that Merrill has been dealing with a balky left ankle that he sustained while taking an awkward step out of the batter’s box on Friday night.

Tom Krasovic: Sweep by LA puts Padres back in underdog role - San Diego Union-Tribune
When Alpine product Alex Vesia closed out L.A.’s victory by getting his third, fourth and fifth outs, the Padres returned to a cramped clubhouse and tried to make sense of a three-game sweep that dropped them two behind the National League West-leading Dodgers with 38 games to go.

They were diplomatic in their comments, showing respect for the Dodgers but also acknowledging their failings, notably in Saturday’s sloppy performance.

San Diego Wave FC

Wave overwhelm Bay FC, climb to second in NWSL standings - San Diego Union-Tribune
Kimmi Ascanio and Kenza Dali scored goals within 11 minutes of each other, and the San Diego Wave held on to beat Bay FC 2-1 on Saturday night at PayPal Park in San Jose.

The win, San Diego’s first since June 13, improved the Wave to 8-3-5 – good for second place in the 14-team National Women’s Soccer League. Bay FC falls to 4-7-5.

Saturday marked the first time since that June match that the Wave had scored more than one goal in a game.

Jonas Eidevall is learning to let go with San Diego Wave after Arsenal ‘pressure’ - The Athletic
Words like “new” and “build” are catnip for a coach in search of a fresh start. Still, Jonas Eidevall needed to see for himself just how blank the slate was with San Diego Wave FC.

The beginnings of an answer took shape when Eidevall pulled up in January to the cluster of blue shipping containers that constitute the administrative side of the NWSL team’s training facility in the sun-baked hills of Del Mar, about three miles away from the ocean.

“I was stepping into my office,” he recalled to The Athletic, “and it was a mess.” He paused. “It just didn’t have anything.”

Odds & Ends

3 Thoughts from Aztecs’ scrimmage: ‘touch’ football, hard work pays off, sparse crowd - San Diego Union-Tribune
The Aztecs have been holding a public scrimmage two weeks before the season opener for decades.

The event has never been particularly well attended, typically drawing somewhat more than 1,000 fans.

Last year, there were perhaps 2,000 fans in attendance.

An estimated 500 people showed up on Thursday night.

ESPN will not air Spike Lee’s docuseries on quarterback Colin Kaepernick - The Guardian
“It’s not coming out. That’s all I can say,” Lee said on the red carpet ahead of the Harold and Carole Pump Foundation dinner, a fundraiser for cancer research and treatment, in Beverly Hills, California.

Asked why, the Oscar-winning director declined to elaborate, citing a nondisclosure agreement. “I can’t. I signed a nondisclosure. I can’t talk about it.”

Kaepernick ignited a national debate in 2016 when he knelt during the US national anthem to protest against systemic racism and police brutality. The 37-year-old has not played in the NFL since that season. Many experts believed his political activism, which triggered a movement that drew the ire of Donald Trump, was the key reason teams were wary of signing him. He later filed a collusion grievance against team owners, which was settled with the league in 2019.

Scottie Scheffler surges to BMW Championship victory for 18th PGA Tour win - The Athletic
Scheffler makes things happen even when he looks to be out of position. He can surge into contention despite frustrating himself by losing shots on the greens. Scheffler goes out and wins golf tournaments with magic — like the chip he holed on No. 17 at Caves Valley on Sunday to all but guarantee his victory. The world No. 1 just knows how to shut the door on his competition.

Sports Illustrated Debuts First-Ever Women’s Games in San Diego - San Diego Magazine
The event, ​​taking place from Tuesday, October 28 to Sunday, November 2, 2025, marks the publication’s debut women’s sporting event, spotlighting elite female athletes and celebrating the rapid rise of women’s sports across the nation. Held at Oceanside’s Frontwave Arena, the inaugural affair will feature more than 120 athletes competing in events ranging from judo to basketball and tennis.

Big hike in fees for San Diego sports leagues leaves players on the bench - KPBS
On July 1, for-profit adult sports leagues in San Diego saw a jump in team fees, sometimes more than doubling. The fees for one team to use a field with lights for a season went from $138 in March to $393. And that additional cost will most likely be passed on to players.

Kevin Hellman has been playing softball his entire life and has run San Diego Softball since 1987. He said he already had to contend with other rising costs, including the price of equipment, and the jump in team fees could be too much for players.

“It’s just a big increase for people to stomach when they can't afford to buy groceries,” he said.

San Diego unemployment rate rises to a level not seen since 2021 - San Diego Union-Tribune
The region’s unemployment rate was 5.2%, state labor officials said Friday, up from 4.9% the previous month. It marks the highest unemployment rate in San Diego County since September 2021.

San Diego isn’t alone in rising jobless numbers, with the nationwide rate up in July to 4.6%, and in California to 6.1%. National job numbers were bad enough that President Donald Trump fired the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, worrying experts. California’s Employment Development Department does use federal data but also conducts its own surveys and analysis.

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