Sez Me …
There are fewer people in China than there are baseball experts. They are legion. Lined up like Central Casting in the 1930s and ’40s.
Especially now, during the daunting age of unsocial media. Everybody used to have opinions, but with few ways of expressing them, except maybe in a bar. Now all they have to do is type it into cyberspace, and it’s sometimes taken as gospel by fools. AI only has made it worse.
Problem is, even people who know baseball don’t know baseball, which makes betting on baseball stupid. The game is like Garbo. Mysterious. It wants to be alone.
It can’t be figured out. Computer nerds who’ve never left their basements and mama’s cooking are trying, and have taken over the sport with useless numbers, or analytics.
It isn’t working — for most. The Dodgers have made it work, and beat the system by bending the rules with endless money and being smarter than everyone else. They don’t have to be the best organization in sports. They just choose to be, because they can, because baseball is so uneven and screwed up.
Which brings us to the Padres. Now is the time of power lists, and I can’t find many “experts” that have the 2026 Pads being anything special — or maybe even average. They are behind franchises that can’t even see their own way, let alone get out of it.
This, of course, is nonsense. Because no one can really know. Many teams wouldn’t mind having the Pads’ roster.
In Fernando Tatis, Jackson Merrill and Ramón Laureano, San Diego has one of the best outfields in baseball. Manny “Always There” Machado is at third base, Xander Bogaerts at short, Jake Cronenworth at second and Gavin Sheets and newcomer/batsman/steal Nick Castellanos at first. There is depth.
The catcher is capable Freddy Fermin (and others). The key will be the starting pitching and finding a fifth starter. The bullpen, anchored by closer Mason “100 mph” Miller, may be the best.
It’s up to the “stars” to perform up to their capabilities, which hasn’t happened enough in recent years — especially from Tatis, who has unrivaled skills (he is a great right fielder). The big deal is getting Miller into the game with a lead.
There is a new manager in Craig Stammen, and we also should remember what my dad said about not knowing what a captain is like until you get on the water with him. Good managers help, but they don’t win rings.
The Padres also will be under new ownership, but a fresh flag shouldn’t mean much in 2026.
I think these Padres have a chance to be good. Not Dodgers good. But fun. If they choose and try to be, experts be damned. …
Dodgers fans basically are tourists who either have an early dinner and arrive late, or have their dinner late after leaving early. …
Jurickson Profar is an ex-Padre. And that is a good thing. Once is not enough, Jurickson? …
A photo of Justin Herbert in a grocery store has gone viral. So he can’t go to a grocery store just because he’s a multi-millionaire? Don’t you need a lot of dough to go to the grocery store? …
Now, if Justin has his girlfriend with him buying frozen lasagna, that’s a picture. …
Justin does have a new center, Tyler Biadasz. If he only has one working leg, and that one is questionable, Tyler’s a massive improvement. …
At least Herbert won’t be seeing Maxx Crosby twice a year. I love Crosby’s engine, but he isn’t worth the two ones the Ravens threw on Vegas’s craps table. …
David Montgomery is a fine back. And the Lions send him to the Texans for a fifth-round pick? This isn’t a steal. This is charity. …
Running backs win Super bowls and they continue to get dissed. Don’t get it. …
Dan Orlovsky agrees with me. Jeremiah Love is the best player in the draft. If he drops to the Chiefs at No. 9, smelling salts won’t wake me up. …
Ty Simpson’s quarterback stock rose sharply at the NFL Combine. Of course it did. He wasn’t playing football. …
Beware the quarterback who hasn’t played much college football. Simpson has started 15 games. And don’t tell me he sat and learned behind good players at Alabama and faced good defenders on scout teams. Doesn’t count. …
The only way you get better at football — at any sport — is to play it live. …
It happens every year. Not playing football improves draft status. It’s like Hemingway winning the Nobel for his notes. …
Jerry Jones says he plans to reverse course and will spend a lot of money in free agency. Even though he’s re-worked a few contracts to get under the cap, he doesn’t have a lot of money to spend in free agency. …
Jerry says: “I want to do everything I can to stop somebody.” He’s got a couple hundred million tied up in four offensive players and a horrible defense. …
The Eagles should keep A.J. Brown. They won’t be as good without him, even if he reads “War and Peace” on the bench. …
This may be the deepest draft for wideouts. But I don’t know if there’s an A.J. Brown in it. …
Kyler Murray gets $36.8 million from Arizona, who are releasing him. He is not big. He also is not a bum. …
Are the Vikings giving up on J.J. McCarthy? Looks like it. …
Chad Baker-Mazara, 26, and USC’s leading scorer, is off the Trojans’ basketball team. He once played for SDSU, one of his five collegiate stops. FIVE. This is Kosher? …
The Chiefs have traded Trent McDuffie to the Rams. Quick read: K.C.’s secondary won’t be as good, and Herbert is not unhappy. …
No chance the Rams get a corner as good as McDuffie with the 29th overall pick they gave up. Now, heaven forbid, does K.C. use their own pick (9th) and that 29th to move up and get Love? …
Myles Garrett, the NFL’s best player in 2025, has received his ninth speeding ticket (94 mph in a 70) since joining the Browns in 2017. That’s it. He’s going to the Chiefs. …
Saw a remarkable film of 90-year-old Johnny Mathis singing “Misty.” A magnificent voice that can never be silenced. …
The L.A. Kings have fired their coach. Can you name him? Let me know. …
RIP, Lou Holtz, a good coach and a humorist who said highly questionable things. One not questionable: “Moses died leaning on his staff, and so will I.” …
In 1970, when Lou was coaching William & Mary, he was beaten 43-7 by West Virginia’s Bobby Bowden. When Holtz accused Bobby of running up the score, he was told maybe the outcome would have been closer if he had recruited more Williams and fewer Marys. …
My all-time favorite in-the-moment line from a coach unexpectedly came from Mike Riley, a great guy but not a quote machine, who was overseeing the hapless Judases. Ryan Leaf was out with a shoulder injury, and I asked Mike how the QB was doing. His reply: “I don’t know. I talked to him this morning, but I couldn’t hear him over the slot machines.”