While the San Diego Padres were in the midst of a four-game sweep against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park to open the 2025 Major League Baseball season, soccer fans also had something noteworthy to cheer for as San Diego FC secured its first home field victory over the Los Angeles Football Club last Saturday in front of 32,502 fans at Snapdragon Stadium.
The victory was definitely a measuring stick for Major League Soccer’s newest club, which improved its early season record to three wins, one loss and two ties (3-1-2) as it carved out a third-place niche in the 15-team Western Conference standings.
The win was also emotional as it came against an established MLS team, not to mention a new geographic rival.
San Diego FC now has some bragging rights after going 2-0 against the league’s two Los Angeles-based franchise. SDFC previously defeated the host L.A. Galaxy, 2-0, on opening weekend.
More history-making tidbits: the hosts led 3-0 through 40 minutes to the delight — astonishment, perhaps? — of the near-capacity crowd.
First-year head coach Mikey Varas called the first half showing by his new side “unbelievable.”
“The first 38 or 40 minutes of that match we were unbelievable,” Varas said. “I hope everyone takes notice of the San Diego team’s effort and quality of its players. That’s how I felt at that moment.
You play a top team with top players and those things can happen. They started pressing us and we made an effor. We lost our composure for a minute. Halftime came at the right moment.”
The second half wasn’t too bad, either, after the hosts regained their composure by holding the L.A. visitors scoreless to preserve the milestone one-goal victory.
Christopher McVey opened scoring in the 21st minute on a head shot to stake the hosts to a 1-0 lead. Onni Valakari pounced on a misplay by LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to double the lead at the 33-minute mark and Alex Mighten made it 3-0 in the 40th minute.
Valakari also drew the assist on Mighten’s tally to give him two goals and three assists in six games with the team.
Anibal Godoy set up McVey’s goal with a free kick.
The match was far from over, however, and LAFC made a game of it with back-to-back goals to close out the opening half. Artem Smolyakov trimmed the SDFC lead to 3-1 with a goal in the 43rd minute and teammate Cengiz Ünder scored five minutes into stoppage time to lower the SDFC lead to 3-2.
Overall, the hosts logged the better statistical edge in the rivalry match. San Diego FC out-shot LAFC 15-12 with six shots on target, a 63 percent possession edge, 90 percent pass accuracy and 12-8 advantage in fouls.
There were six yellow caution cards issued in the contest — four to the hosts. The visitors picked up one red card ejection, allowing San Diego FC to play with a one-man advantage in the second half.
The Vancouver Whitecaps continue to lead the Western Conference standings with a 4-1-1 record and 13 points, followed by Austin FC (4-2-0) with 12 points.. SDFC is tied with Minnesota and the Colorado Rapids, both with 11 points.
LAFC entered the week eighth in the Western Conference table with three wins and three losses.
SDFC’s only loss so far this season has been to Austin.
Next up for the San Diegans is a home match against Seattle (1-2-3) on Saturday, April 5, and a road match April 12 at Colorado.
Two MLS teams remain undefeated to kick off the new season — Inter Miami with a 4-0-1 record to lead the Eastern Conference and the Columbus Crew with three wins and three ties to lie one point behind Inter Miami in the conference standings.
Pad squad
Photos by Andy Bartotto
The Padres generated home runs by Fernando Tatis Jr., Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth in the sweep of the Braves. A.J. Smith-Shawyer, Jose Suarez and Hector Neris combined on a 5-0 shutout with nine strikeouts in Sunday’s finale.
The Friars opened a three-game series against visiting Cleveland with a 7-2 win on Monday for their first 5-0 start in club history.
Make that 6-0 after Tuesday’s 7-0 victory over the Guardians and 7-0 after Wednesday’s 5-2 win.
RBI leaders: Jackson Merrill 8, Jake Cronenworth 7, Xander Bogaerts 7, Elias Diaz 5, Manny Machado 5, Martin Maldonado 4, Jason Heywood 4
Pitching leaders: Wandy Peralta 2-0 (0.00 ERA), Jason Adam 1-0 (0.00 ERA), Nick Pivetta 1-0 (0.00 ERA), Dylan Cease 1-0 (3.38 ERA), Michael King 1-0 (3.52), Kyle Hart 1-0 (3.60 ERA). Strikeouts: Cease 14 (10.2 IP), King 14 (7.2 IP)
Padres Home Opening Series – It’s a Winner!
Behind the Lens: by Jon Bigornia
When you can’t make it to Petco Park to watch the Padres, viewing it on TV is the next best thing, at least in my case. And over the past seven days, that’s exactly what I did. Hoping for a great opening weekend showing, the Pads really delivered on that order and more!
Opening night did not disappoint. Exciting to see the new season begin and Petco filled with fans of all ages. Cool to see fans cheer for Jurickson Profar when he was introduced and when he came up to bat, even though he was on the opposing team.
When last season’s rookie sensation Jackson Merrill came up to bat, the announcers were going over his stats from last year, saying he should have been the Rookie of the Year. He then proceeded to hit a 2 RBI single, which pretty much proved the point.
After they won the first game against Atlanta, the next three were just as exciting to watch. All of their stars proved they were stars – Tatis, Machado, Arraez, Bogaerts, Cronenworth, Cease, and new addition Gavin Sheets.
When they finished the fourth game against the Braves, the signs with brooms on them were out, celebrating the “sweep!” The announcers said the last time the team was 4-0, they went on to the World Series that year. Perhaps a sign?
After the Braves series, they proceed to take on Cleveland. The Guardians (can’t get used to that name, they’re always the “Indians” in my mind) were up next. Again, kept my fingers crossed for the same plays and pitching and hits that gave them the home opener sweep. Again, they didn’t disappoint. Game 1 featured Merrill bobbleheads. Wished I could get one!
Sheets had a phenomenal night with 4 RBIs And Tatis with a sliding catch for an out running in from the outfield. 7-2 final.
Game 2 featured a Guardians player who graduated from Bonita Vista class of 2015, Daniel Schneeman (by way of BYU) in the outfield. We also saw Merrill hit his first HR of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tatis drove in a run on a SAC fly. Arraez got a RBI as did Cronenworth. Miscues by the Guardians and errors contributed to more runs, and a shutout 7-0 final.
Game 3’s top story was Merrill being given a $135M, 9-year contract extension. He followed that up with a HR in the game. Tatis created excitement by stealing home and Arraez hit his first home run of the season. That all added up to a 5-2 win against Cleveland, and gave the Padres a 7-0 record! Lucky 7. I hope the streak continues!
