Painter. Disc golfer. Bee keeper. Cat owner. Mindfulness practitioner. Cease brought his whole self to San Diego when the Chicago White Sox traded him to the Padres in March. “Those are just things I like doing,” the 28-year-old said. “I have a really unique job and unique skill set, but I’m a human being first. I have the same human experiences as everyone.” 

Cease’s thoughtfulness is apparent when he talks about his art practice, which he started only a few years ago. He’s inspired by a desire to create and to escape consumerism, at least for a little while. “Art is personality and expression,” he said. Unlike baseball, “art is under all your control, and I can put a lot of personality on the canvas. The outcome at the end is very cool. It’s gratifying.”

Cease views pitching as more scientific and logical than art, but his personality peaks through on the field. His motion is methodical and intentional, as if he wants as much time as possible to study his prey and direct his attack. Upright and slow, his is a thinking-man’s windup. That is, until it’s time to release the ball. 

As he whips his 6’2” frame around, a violent force is created. It might be a fastball that explodes out of his hand, the ball doting a corner of the strike zone. Or it could be a slider that darts below the knees, leaving the batter questioning the laws of physics. His style doesn’t deceive hitters so much as it overwhelms them. It’s a repertoire that has carried a Padres rotation without co-aces Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish for long stretches and that carried Cease into the record books on July 25 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. as only the second Padre to throw a no-hitter in team history (the first was Musgrove).

A 99 mile-per-hour fastball induced the final out of the eighth inning of his no-hitter. His first fastball of the game, almost two hours and a hundred pitches earlier, was “just” 97 miles per hour. The final three outs in the ninth came on Cease’s patented slider. Down and inside to a lefty: groundball. Down and away to a righty: groundball. Down and away to another lefty: fly out. He was dealing. He was, well, painting.

The demands of the baseball season limit his art to a couple pieces a year, but he’s generous with that output. He gifted his mom a recent painting for Mother’s Day. Another painting went to Padres teammate Michael King to support King’s charity work. It’s an ethos recognized by Dante Rowley, retail and visitor experience manager at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, who is working with Cease to highlight baseball caps that the museum and Padres designed together.

“We want to tell the story of, you don’t need to choose between getting into sports and getting into art. Cease has that duality and can be the bridge between the two worlds,” Rowley said. “He was kind of an unknown when the Padres traded for him, but I think a younger generation of ballplayers and artists in San Diego can look up to him and connect with him.”

And Cease’s interest in sports extends beyond baseball. “The pro disc golf season kicks off in Arizona, when baseball spring training is starting there,” said Paul McBeth, who Cease described as the ‘Tiger Woods of disc golf.’ “Dylan messaged me and we realized we have a lot of similar interests.”

Those interests developed into a friendship, which developed into a business. A Georgia native, Cease bought land outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and asked McBeth to design a world-class course, which they named Cactus Rock. The two then partnered on buying Gran Canyon Disc Golf Course, one of the premier courses in Florida.

“Dylan probably wants to land a big baseball contract just so he can develop more courses,” McBeth said with a laugh. “It’s not so much about the money, though. I think Dylan likes seeing his ideas come alive. He’s a different thinker than most. He would love to sit around and talk about World War II. He loves to learn and loves to hear people’s stories.”

Cease considers disc golf a lifelong pursuit, and about his art he said, “I don’t think I’ll ever stop painting. It will be cool to look back 10, 20, 30 years from now and see what I created. Art is similar to immortality. It’s a time capsule.” When asked if his no-hitter–just the second in team history–can be thought of in the same way, Cease acknowledged it could be, but he quickly added that the World Series is the ultimate goal and what really gets immortalized. 

Cease is a free agent after next season. Whether he spends two seasons or the rest of his career in San Diego is to be determined, but so far, so good. “The move here has been great. [The Padres] organization is fantastic,” he said. From road trips with the White Sox, he knew the weather here was perfect, but since becoming a Padre he has grown an appreciation for the “distinct” atmosphere at Petco Park and how passionate San Diegans are about their team.

Those San Diegans will certainly remember him forever if he helps bring home the Padres’ first championship. Cease may view himself a mere mortal, a human like any other, but connecting with people through more than baseball is the stuff of legends.

The post Painting at the Plate appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Friday, August 9 | 7:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Since 2019, Leagues Cup has grown from a small tournament for eight American and Mexican soccer teams into a month-long, continent-spanning cup competition featuring all 47 teams in the MLS and Liga MX. And in what seems to be a regular occurrence these days, Snapdragon Stadium is the site of a premier international match.

Based in Mexico City, Club América is the New York Yankees of Mexican soccer. They’ve won the Mexican top flight more than any other team. They’ve won more international trophies than any other club in North America. They play in one of the biggest stadiums in the world. They’ve never been relegated. Their dominance is why they’re a favorite in this year’s Leagues Cup and why they’re the top seed with a bye to the knockout round. Club América is slated to play the second team out of the West 8 group, which as of this writing is Real Salt Lake, but regardless of the matchup San Diego is once again playing host to some of the best soccer in North America. 

San Diego FC Open Tryouts

August 7-8 | 8:00 a.m. | Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center

If there’s any indication of whether San Diegans are excited for San Diego FC, then it’s the response to its Right to Dream Academy open tryouts. “We had 1,000 spots filled in six hours,” said Joaquín Escoto, executive vice president of SDFC & Right to Dream Academy. “We were able to move locations and set up a second day for tryouts. Another 1,000 spots filled up in 12 hours.” A third tryout in Tijuana is also at capacity.

The Right to Dream Academy is what the club considers the foundation of the team. It’s “our differentiator. It’s our special sauce. It’s our identity,” SDFC CEO Tom Penn told San Diego Magazine in April. According to Escoto, players selected for the Academy from the open tryout will train locally throughout San Diego until June 2025, when the club’s state-of-the-art training facility under construction in El Cajon is expected to open. 

In August 2025, players will start living and going to school at the facility. Within three years, Escoto expects Academy players to begin making an impact at the professional level, whether that’s with San Diego FC or elsewhere around the world. And if SDFC has its way, those players will become household names. “Our goal is to recruit the best players, hire the best scouts, and build the best complex,” Escoto said.

San Diego Padres vs. New York Mets

Thursday, August 22 | 6:40 p.m. | Petco Park

Watch: Padres.TV

I hope to one day love something as much as AJ Preller loves the MLB trade deadline. After the Padres won seven games of their first nine after the All-Star Break, their prolific general manager shored up a pitching staff battered by injuries by trading for starter Martin Perez and relievers Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing, and Jason Adam. “To hit on a few areas of need with players we really liked, we’re excited,” Preller said at a press conference announcing the deals.

The acquisitions are arriving when they are needed most. In August, the Pads have four series against teams vying for a wild card spot they currently hold. No series may be bigger than their four-game set at Petco Park against the New York Mets, who own baseball’s best record since June 1 and are neck and neck with the Pads in the standings. The series’ opener on Thursday, August 22, is the game to get to since, win or lose, the first 40,000 fans receive a free Fernando Tatís Jr. City Connect Bucket Hat. 

Bike the Bay 

Sunday, August 25 | 7:00 a.m. | Coronado Bay Bridge

On Sunday, August 25, the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition is hosting its annual Bike the Bay event at which cyclists of all ages and skill levels can pedal over the bridge at their own pace. But unless you competed in the recent Tour de France, you should oil that chain, pump up the tires, and go for a spin before the event. The bridge’s 4.67 percent road grade is no joke, but you’ll be rewarded with the single-best best view of San Diego Bay and the city skyline. Typically, that view goes by all too quickly–except for this one day. 

SDSU Football vs. Texas A&M-Commerce

Saturday, August 31 | 5:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

At his press conference kicking off the 2024 season, the 38-year-old Sean Lewis seemed every bit the up-and-coming college football coach. Sporting a trimmed beard, a red SDSU polo, and an easy smile, he motored through questions with a relentlessness and positivity that only a former understudy of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders could possess. If the Aztecs play as quickly as their new coach talks—Lewis fittingly calls his offense ‘AztecFAST’—then SDSU’s season opener against Texas A&M-Commerce is going to be a hot ticket.

But which quarterback has the keys to that offense, either redshirt sophomore AJ Duffy or freshman Danny O’Neil, is an open question that will have to be resolved on the practice field this month. “They haven’t played at our pace yet,” Lewis said about his quarterbacks. “You can watch as much film as you want, but you get better by doing.” 

As for his goals for the program this season and beyond, Lewis aimed high. “It comes down to owning the Old Oil Can,’’ he said, referring to the trophy claimed by the winner of the annual SDSU-Fresno State game. “Then win the Mountain West, and then get an opportunity to compete and win games in the College Football Playoff. Those are the goals year in and year out.” That ambitious path starts on August 31 at Snapdragon Stadium.

The post 5 San Diego Sports Events to Watch this Month: Aug. 2024 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

One step forward, one step back. Such is the story of the 2024 San Diego Padres. 

“It’s been a confusing, back and forth season,” says AJ Cassavell, MLB.com’s Padres beat reporter. The team has hovered around .500 and have been unable to separate from the pack in a wide open National League wild card race. That’s in large part because, “the star players haven’t been up to their normal standards,” according to Cassavell. The stats bear that out.

Limited by a lingering elbow injury and a recent strain in his hip, franchise cornerstone Manny Machado is having the most difficult season of his illustrious 13-year career. Second baseman Xander Bogaerts struggled before a broken shoulder shelved him indefinitely. Right fielder Fernando Tatís—arguably the most talented player in baseball—played like a mere mortal during the first two months of the season. The Padres’ most productive player by Wins Above Replacement, a metric that quantifies overall value, is outfielder Jurickson Profar, a journeyman signed to a one-year, $1 million deal.

It’s not all bad. It can’t be when a team wins roughly half its games. Cassavell credits this to the “role players who have been really good,” including center fielder Jackson Merrill, infielder and hitting machine Luis Arráez, and reliever Jeremiah Estrada, who as recently as November could have added #OPENTOWORK on his player profile and by June had struck out 13 consecutive batters, an MLB record. “The Padres might have found the best bullpen bargain in baseball,” proclaimed Sports Illustrated. 

Padres general manager A.J. Preller has long focused on big free agent signings and splashy trades. At last, he found worthy compliments to a high-priced core, and despite Kim’s baserunning mistake it seemed to have all come together against the A’s on Monday, June 10.

Starting pitcher Dylan Cease scattered eight hits across six innings. Tatis scalded a ball that left the yard so fast it belonged on the Autobahn. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth hit a gentler homer, though one that scored a run all the same. Closer Robert Suarez struckout the side in the ninth to end the game. The stars played like stars, and to Padres manager Mike Shildt the 6-1 victory served as “the blueprint for winning baseball games. You get your starter [to] limit damage, then you get an offense that just completely takes relentless at-bats.“

True to form, the Padres didn’t follow that blueprint for very long. After sweeping the A’s in the three-game set, they flew to New York and gave those three games back to the Mets. The Pads then traveled down I-95 to Philadelphia, only to continue scuffling. They won five of the six games prior to heading east, then lost five of six on the road trip. One step forward. One step back.

Still, Shildt stands by his team. “Short-term? We got to figure it out. We need to be a little more consistent, a little better,” he said after a 9-2 loss to the Phillies. “Long-term concern? None. Zero. I know we’re going to end up right where we want to end up, and that is in October.”

Fans appear to share in the belief that their team will make the playoffs. The Padres rank 15th in winning percentage, smack in the middle of MLB’s thirty teams, but rank second in total attendance. It’s as if Padres fans are motivating the role players to step up, and willing the star players to shine again.

“Can we go on a [playoff] run? Absolutely,” says Hugo “Randy” Salgado, a longtime season ticket holder. Salgado and his family are such big Padres supporters his nickname derives from his father’s fandom of legendary Padres pitcher Randy Jones. Salgado’s little brother’s given name? Randy. 

From his seats in right field Salgado sees the struggles of the team’s core, but he also recognizes what could be. “We’re weathering a perfect storm” of injuries and tough scheduling, he says, and making the playoffs “would mean everything to this city, it would mean everything to us fans.”

The team seems to feed off that energy, that belief. In the June 20 matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers, Cronenworth hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, marking the third consecutive home game that the Pads won in the final frame. Petco Park exploded after each game-winning homer, the fan base euphoric over a team that never quits.They don’t call them the Friar Faithful for nothing.

The post One Step Forward, One Step Back for the Padres appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Friday, May 10 | 6:40 p.m. | Petco Park

Watch: Padres.TV

Few things are as cathartic as chanting “Beat L.A.” with 45,000 of your closest friends, and the Padres will need all the help they can get from their fans when they face the Dodgers at Petco Park this month. The Pads’ offense this season has been fine enough, with rookies like center fielder Jackson Merrill pulling their weight and established stars like third baseman Manny Machado turning in solid, if unspectacular seasons.

But being fine enough at the plate doesn’t cut it when the pitching is among the worst in baseball. Only seven teams have a worse earned run average. That combination has led to a frustrating start for the Padres, who as of this writing sit three games under .500 and look up at five teams in the playoff standings. With their divisional rivals in town, the Padres have a chance to get back in the playoff race. 

San Diego Wave Women in Sports Panel

Wednesday, May 8 | 5:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

In what might be the best deal in town this month, the San Diego chapter of Women in Sports and Events (WISE) is hosting a panel on the business of sports before the Wave’s game against the Utah Royals. Announced panelists include Jessi Miley-Dyer, commissioner of the World Surf League; Danielle Nuzzo, head of communications with Wave FC partner, Trust and Will; and Karla Thompson, executive director of performance and development with the Wave. For $40, attendees receive a “seat at the game, access to the pre-match panel discussion and post-discussion networking, and a donation to WISE San Diego,” as well as lite bites and a drink voucher, according to the nonprofit.

Locally, the Wave’s game attendance is among the best in American soccer and the Mojo starting play this year represents the growth of women’s indoor volleyball. Nationally, Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark is everywhere. Women’s sports are rightfully more popular than ever, and WISE plays their part by empowering “women in the business of sports with the tools to reach their career goals.”

San Diego Wave vs. NY/NJ Gotham FC

Sunday, May 12 | 4:30 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Watch: NSWL+

The Wave and Gotham FC will both look to get back on track when they face off in a Sunday matinee at Snapdragon Stadium. The Wave are eighth in the league table and are clinging to the last playoff spot based on goal differential. Gotham FC are eleventh, closer to the bottom of the table than the top. It’s a far cry from last year, when the Wave were the NWSL’s best regular season team and Gotham FC survived the playoffs and won the championship. To prove who was better, the two heavyweights faced each other in March in the NWSL’s Challenge Cup.

The Wave won an entertaining slugfest 1-0, thanks to an 88th-minute header off a corner kick from star forward Alex Morgan. Since then, neither team has maintained their 2023 form. Up for grabs in San Diego is a win and three crucial points in the standings that could determine whether either team gets to compete in next year’s Challenge Cup.

San Diego Padres vs. New York Yankees

Friday, May 24 | 6:40 p.m. | Petco Park

Watch: Padres.TV

The unofficial start of summer means the Evil Empire is in town. It’s a rare visit to San Diego for the New York Yankees, as they’ve played here just three times in the last 22 years. (Let’s not acknowledge the 1998 World Series, in which the Yankees completed a four-game sweep at Qualcomm Stadium.) It also means a familiar face returns to right field. Former Padres star Juan Soto was traded to New York in the offseason and is off to a monster start for the Bronx Bombers, batting .325 with eight home runs and has an absurd .438 on-base percentage.

Before being shipped out of town, Soto helped the Padres get to the National League Championship Series in 2022 and was a bright spot in a disappointing 2023 season. If the Friar Faithful are nice to him during his return, then maybe, just maybe, Soto considers a return to San Diego as a free agent after the season. 

West Coast Sevens Gaelic Games

Saturday, May 25 | 9:00 a.m. | Southwestern College

What do San Diego and Ireland have in common? If you guessed a commitment to unique and ancient sports, then you might be a participant in the annual West Coast Sevens Gaelic Games at Southwestern College. Teams from around the world fly into San Diego for Memorial Day weekend to play traditional Irish field sports, including Gaelic football, which is like putting basketball, soccer, and rugby into a blender, and Camogie, a stick-and-ball game for women that resembles field hockey, baseball, and lacrosse.

While Gaelic games are foreign to most Americans, they are among Ireland’s most popular sports–the Gaelic Athletic Association is Ireland’s largest sports organization, according to The Guardian–and the Irish Times recently reported on the games’ surging popularity in Asia. For San Diegans, it’s a bit of culture that doesn’t require travel or even money. According to West Coast Sevens’ Instagram account, admission is free, parking is free, and fun is free.

The post The 5 Best Lineups in San Diego Sports: May 2024 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

April 5-7 | Crown Point Shores

Where to Watch: YouTube Live

The San Diego Crew Classic started in 1973 as a three-hour collegiate regatta. It’s now a three-day festival of rowing with a Jumbotron and a beer garden. As the first major event of the spring racing season, the Crew Classic still draws the top collegiate crews. The two-time defending national champs Cal Golden Bears are mainstays and they won last year’s prestigious Copley Cup. But there are now divisions for high school, alumni, masters, and mixed crews. There are brunch and VIP food options to take in the action, and fans unable to make it to Mission Bay can stream the event online.

San Diego Padres vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Friday, April 19 | 6:40 p.m. | Petco Park

Where to Watch: Padres.TV

The Toronto Blue visiting San Diego this month marks the first interleague series for either the Jay or the Pads, both of whom should be postseason contenders. The Blue Jays core featuring the dynamic duo of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette will try to get past the American League wild card round, where their season has ended three of the last four years. And the Padres so far have gone toe-to-toe with divisional foes Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, with new pitcher Yuki Matsui a revelation out of the bullpen and infielders Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts getting out to hot starts. The Blue Jays coming into town also marks the return of Out at the Park, the Padres’ annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Co-hosted by San Diego Pride, it’s one of the city’s great civic events. 

Street League Skateboarding

Saturday, April 20 | 12:00 p.m. | Viejas Arena

Where to Watch: Rumble

San Diego is integral to the history of skateboarding, and no one plays a bigger role in that history than local legend Tony Hawk. He basically invented the business of skateboarding and the competitive sport as we know it. It’s fitting, then, that Street League Skateboarding brings its Championship Tour to Viejas Arena on April 20. Founded by professional skateboarder and “Rob & Big” star Rob Dyrdek, the SLS Championship Tour is the world’s premier street skateboarding competition and boasts a $1.8 million purse—not bad for athletes despised by property owners and their security guards. 

San Diego Wave vs. Bay FC

Saturday, April 27 | 7:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Where to Watch: Ion

The Wave scored early in their first game of the season, then took their foot off the gas, allowing the KC Current to draw even and eventually win the game. The Wave avenged that disappointing loss in their next match against the Seattle Reign. The Wave had “been hungry all week in training,” midfielder Emily van Egmond said after netting her game-winning, last-minute goal. It’s early in the 2024 season, with the team still finding its identity, so it’s an open question of what version of the Wave will show up for their April 27 rematch with the Bay FC. Will it be the uninspired team that dropped points to an inferior side, or the persistent one that vanquished a rival?

San Diego Strike Force vs. Bay Area Panthers

Sunday, April 28 | 3:05 p.m. | Pechanga Sports Arena

Several leagues have come and gone to fulfill America’s insatiable appetite for football during the NFL’s offseason, but the Indoor Football League endures. It’s the country’s longest continuously operating indoor football league, and last month the San Diego Strike Force kicked off its fifth campaign in the IFL. It looks like the Strike Force’s most promising season yet. The team beat the Duke City Gladiators 32-26 in its first game of the 16-game season. In their final home game in April, the Strike Force take on upstate rivals and defending IFL champions Bay Area Panthers. Professional football didn’t leave San Diego. Only the Chargers did. 

The post The 5 Best Lineups in San Diego Sports: April 2024 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

It didn’t seem it would be that way after his first year in San Diego, not after batting a paltry .202 in 117 games. Kim was an All-Star in South Korea, hitting .306 with 30 home runs for the Kiwoom Heroes in 2020, but in the American game in 2021 he was simply lost at the plate. Kim batted worse than several pitchers, who as a group were so bad at hitting they are no longer allowed to bat. What value Kim had was in his glove, and he filled in admirably for injured regulars around the infield. He was a useful, if underwhelming, utility man. 

For the 2022 season, Kim was thrust into starting duties after then-shortstop Fernando Tatís broke his hand and was later suspended for steroid use. It was a nightmare for fans amid a season of hope, and The Athletic’s Dennis Lin wondered at the time, “How far can the Padres advance without Tatís when… they have been repeatedly outclassed by the Dodgers?”

The consistent playing time allowed Kim to establish himself, and he raised his batting average almost 50 points and provided excellent, versatile defense. Along with the rally goose, Kim was crucial to the Padres’ miraculous run past those Dodgers to the National League Championship Series.

In 2023, the Padres were a disappointment. Ha-Seong Kim was anything but. 

He was one of the best all-around players in baseball, earning MVP votes and a Gold Glove Award, the first-ever for a Korean player. And at shortstop, Kim not only displace Tatís, who had to learn right field upon his return to the lineup. He also did the same to Xander Bogaerts, who, after just one season into an 11-year, $280 million contract, was moved to second base.

This indicates how crucial Kim is to the 2024 Padres. Their roster this year is constructed like a mid-game Jenga tower—all the pieces are at the top. Tatís, Bogaerts, and third baseman Manny Machado, as well as pitchers Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove are veritable stars and have nine-figure contracts to match. On top of that, the team traded for highly regarded starting pitchers Michael King and Dylan Cease. But then there’s a steep drop. Ha-Seong Kim is the single brick bearing the weight.

On a team full of shortstops—Machado once played there, as did first baseman Jake Cronenworth and outfielder Jurickson Profar—Kim is the best, which allows the Pads to spread out their defensive quality, lengthen the batting order, and hide their lack of depth.

Tatís, for example, was the best right fielder in baseball last year and won the Platinum Glove as the National League’s single-best defender. His patrolling right field allays concerns about the untested Jackson Merrill, another converted shortstop, playing center field. Moving Tatís back to the infield would create an impossible hole to fill in the outfield and would push a productive bat to the bench. The team’s top-heavy lineup and defensive prowess should also support (and bail out) a bullpen full of newcomers and youngsters.

This makes Ha-Seong Kim the linchpin to the Padres on the field, but his employment status might represent even more.

In what became a bargain, Kim is playing out his four-year, $28 million deal in 2024, and if he continues his ascent he’s all but certain to receive his own nine-figure contract after the season. If the Padres are out of the playoff picture come summer, then that contract likely won’t come from them. Trading Kim ahead of the July 30 deadline would ensure they get a return on one of the top impending free agents, which would present an ugly question to the Friar Faithful: are the Padres rebuilding again?

But the team will likely hold onto Kim if they’re in postseason contention, as he’d be central to that success. Given the bump in revenues that come with a playoff run, the Padres could very well be interested in re-signing him. This presents a different question altogether: will the team’s ownership carry on Peter Seidler’s legacy and invest in the Padres and the city that loves them?

Seidler bought into the Padres in 2012 and eight years later became the team’s largest shareholder and chairman. He then ran the franchise as if it was a sports car he snuck out of the garage. The team’s core received long-term mega-deals. Superstar Juan Soto came and went. So did three different managers, top pitchers Josh Hader and Blake Snell, and a bevy of role players and prospects. And of course, they brought in Ha-Seong Kim.

In one of MLB’s smallest media markets, Seidler shelled out for the third-highest payroll in baseball in 2023, behind only the two teams in New York. He had also become a leader in the fight against homelessness, committing his time and wealth to addressing one of our most pressing civic issues. It was a madcap run at making San Diego a big city and a better place, one that finally had a World Series championship. Sadly, that run ended last fall. 

The Pads failed to make the playoffs; their season ending on October 1, and six weeks later Seidler passed away. Under new chairman Eric Kutsenda, the team shed tens of millions in payroll, retooled with younger and cheaper players, and handed the reins to new manager Mike Shildt. This may be the most pivotal year in franchise history and at the center of it is Kim.

He’s now an international star, but he was at first a struggling fan favorite, a rookie willed on by fans clapping along to the three syllables of Ha-Seong Kim. His game-winning, two-run homer against the Cincinnati Reds in June 2021 is basically a superhero origin story. “My first season in the major leagues was very disappointing,” Kim said in the Padres’ “San Diego to Seoul” documentary, “but every time I stepped up to the plate, fans continued to chant my name.”

Regardless of how this season turns out and wherever Kim ends up, the 2022 team that upset the Dodgers in the playoffs will be feted for generations. At celebratory reunions at Petco Park it will be Kim who receives one of the loudest receptions, and kids will ask their parents who that is. It’s unclear yet whether they’ll say he’s an icon of the greatest era in Padres history or an emblem of what could have been.

The post The Shortstop With the Tall Order appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Friday, March 8 | 7:00 p.m. | Viejas Arena

Where to Watch: FS1

The top of the Mountain West Conference standings are more jammed than the 805 during rush hour. After play on February 27, there are five teams—No. 20 SDSU, No. 22 Utah State, Boise State, UNLV, and Nevada—within a game of each other. This means the regular season conference title could be up for grabs when the Aztecs take on Boise State in the last home game of the year.

It will also be Senior Night at Viejas Arena, where fans will bid adieu to the 2024 senior class, already the most accomplished in school history. SDSU heads to the Mountain West postseason tournament next, and regardless of how they do there they are locked to make the NCAA tournament. With one more postseason run ahead of them, Lamont Butler, Jaedon LeDee, and their fellow seniors could add even more banners to the rafters. 

Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup final

Sunday, March 10 | 5:15 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Where to Watch: CBS | Paramount+ | ESPN

The U.S. women’s national team was expected to compete for the first-ever W Gold Cup trophy at Snapdragon Stadium. The question was who would join them in the final. Then Mexico pulled off a 2-0 upset over the U.S. in group play and all bets are off. Will either Brazil or Colombia, who battled in group play in San Diego, make it to the final? How about the Canadian team currently ranked top-10 in the world? And who can discount the Mexican team now? Whichever teams survive the knockout rounds, the San Diegans at the final match will be the soundtrack and backdrop to soccer history. 

San Diego Legion vs. RFC Los Angeles

Saturday, March 16 | 7:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Where to Watch: The Rugby Network

In researching this piece, I found that the San Diego Legion lost last year’s Major League Rugby championship game by a single point. Then I looked up whether a point is called a point in rugby. (It is.) Then I looked up who the Legion’s best players are.

Tomas Aoake, Christian Poidevin, and Mikey Te’o all made the 2023 All-MLR First Team. But this much I know: rugby is growing in the U.S., and San Diego has a particular interest in it. So much so, two of the best rugby teams in the world in Fiji and the All Blacks of New Zealand will play at Snapdragon Stadium in July. Before then, the Legion will take the field, er, pitch, on March 16 to begin their defense of the Western Conference crown.

San Diego Wave vs. Kansas City Current

Saturday, March 23 | 7:00 p.m. | Snapdragon Stadium

Where to Watch: Ion

In the Wave’s inaugural season in 2022, the team broke a single-game women’s soccer attendance record and reached the NWSL semifinal. In their second season, the Wave won the NWSL Shield as the best regular season team and again reached the semifinal. In the offseason, the Wave traded for forward Elyse Bennet and signed midfielder Savannah McCaskill to complement a core featuring star forward Alex Morgan and goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan.

In the 2024 home opener, the Wave should make quick work of the Kansas City Current, who are trying to find their footing in the NWSL. More importantly, it’s the first opportunity for fans to see if the Wave have what it takes to win not only the franchise’s first title, but also San Diego’s first major sports championship since 1963.

San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants

Thursday, March 28 | 1:10 p.m. | Petco Park

Where to Watch: Mountain West Network

The Padres lost the 2023 season opener to a listless Colorado Rockies team, portending a season of frustration and disappointment. In the first spring training game of 2024, the Pads lost 14-1 on national TV to their bitter rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ll look to turn things around on Opening Day, when hopes are high, pessimism is low, and every team is 0-0. Well, except this year.

The Padres start their regular season on March 20 in South Korea with a two-game series against the Dodgers, then they return to the States, play a few more exhibitions, and restart the regular season at home against the San Francisco Giants. It’s a scheduling oddity that might just bring them good fortune. After all, they can’t possibly have worse luck than last year, when they outscored their opponents by 104 runs, but went 9-23 in games decided by one run and 2-12 in games decided in extra innings. 

That hasn’t deterred Padres fans, as there are few seats available for the home opener. It reminds me of the quote attributed to baseball Hall of Famer Roger Hornsby: “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

The post The 5 Best Lineups in San Diego Sports: March 2024 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

February 21, 24, 27 | Snapdragon Stadium

In Group B of the inaugural W Gold Cup, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, and either Haiti or Puerto Rico will face off in a slate of games that affirms Snapdragon Stadium as a destination for world-class soccer. “The vision […] from the very beginning was that this facility would be a focal point for the entire San Diego community,” Snapdragon Stadium general manager Adam Millar told San Diego Magazine in November, when Concacaf announced that the city would host the first-ever W Gold Cup final. Tickets for the group stage start at $18, and that’s for seats three rows from the pitch. Grab yours before the rest of San Diego realizes some of the best soccer on the planet is happening in their backyard.

SDSU Women’s Basketball vs. Air Force

Wednesday, February 21 | 6:00 p.m. | Viejas Arena

Watch: Mountain West Network

Led by Adryana Quezada’s 15 points per game, the 14-9 SDSU women’s basketball team is having a fine season, one they hope ends next month in a deep run in the Mountain West Conference championship tournament. Before then, the Aztecs have four more home games, including their matchup against Air Force on February 21 that serves as their annual Black History Month celebration.

Women basketball players have long been at the forefront of “collective activism addressing racism, policing, gender pay equity, LGBTQ+ issues, voting, and reproductive rights,” as Shamira Ibrahim writes for Harper’s Bazaar. The Aztecs’ celebration of Black history reminds us of that struggle, but also of how Black culture and identities enrich American life and sport. 

Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Thursday, February 22 | 12:10 p.m. | Peoria Sports Complex, AZ

Yes, this matchup occurs in the middle of a weekday, and yes, by the third inning you likely won’t be familiar with a single player on the field, but the Padres’ first spring training game means baseball is officially and emphatically back. For the 2024 season, the Pads return one of baseball’s best infields, led by perennial MVP candidate Manny Machado, and Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and Michael King would form a top-flight playoff rotation, but they have to get there first.

It’s the team’s depth that might hold them back. How will new manager Mike Shildt fill the Juan Soto-sized hole in the lineup? Will new relievers Woo-Suk Go, Yuki Matsui, and Wandy Peralta stabilize a thin bullpen? Who’s joining Fernando Tatis in the outfield, and who’s filling out the starting rotation? The answers will get sorted out over the team’s six weeks in Arizona, and soon we’ll be settling into the rhythms of another summer at Petco Park.

San Diego Mojo vs. Grand Rapids Rise

February 23 | 7:00 p.m. | Viejas Arena

Watch: Bally Live

Owned by beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh Jennings, the Mojo played their first match in the Pro Volleyball Federation last Thursday, a 3-0 defeat to the Atlanta Vibe, and are one of seven teams in the new league trying to capitalize on indoor volleyball’s surging popularity. Currently, it’s played more than basketball among girl high school athletes, college volleyball viewership and attendance is skyrocketing, and it’s now an Olympic sport.

After one more away match against the Vegas Thrill, the Mojo bring that excitement to their home debut on February 23. Fans even have a couple of locals to cheer for—Bonsall’s Kendra Dahlke picks up her career after playing professionally overseas from 2018 to 2022, and Carlsbad’s Morgan Lewis transitions to the pros after a standout collegiate career at the University of Oregon.

Cymbiotika San Diego Open

February 24-March 3, 2024 | Barnes Tennis Center

Before pickleball left its inventor’s yard, before the Padres had a winning season, and before top-flight soccer barely existed in the United States, San Diego was a tennis mecca. Billie Jean King, one of the most revered women athletes ever, won the first Southern California Open, now known as the San Diego Open. Fifty-three years later, the Open returns to the Barnes Tennis Center in Ocean Beach with a new sponsor. The field isn’t set yet, but as an official stop on the WTA 500 tour San Diegans will again get to watch some of the sport’s rising stars.

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