(Photos) Saint Mary's beats Gonzaga 70-59 in the final WCC regular season matchup ever between the two rivals
/
Photos by Connor Buestad
(Photos) San Jose opens the 2026 MLS season with a 3-0 win over Kansas City
/
Photos by Connor Buestad | Connor@Section925.com
Previewing the 2026 San Francisco Giants - Can Buster Posey get SF back in the playoffs with Tony Vitello as the new skipper?
/
Buster and Tony V will host the Yankees on Opening Night, March 25th (Photo by Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/GettyImages)
By Connor Buestad | Connor@Section925.com
For the last four seasons in San Francisco, the Giants have been mired in a vicious cycle of mediocrity. Despite almost half the MLB making the playoffs in the current format, the Giants haven’t been able to punch an October ticket since 2021’s bizarre year of 107 wins filled with Gabe Kapler platoons, Farhan Zaidi pitching “openers” and seemingly dumb luck. Since then, SF has been almost exactly average every year, toeing the 81-81 mark repeatedly.
Now that Buster Posey is comfortably in the driver’s seat of San Francisco's baseball operation, he has gone ahead and tried to shake things up in an effort to get back to the old Giants of the 2010’s and step off the 81-81 hamster wheel. The steady handed and experienced skipper that is (was) Bob Melvin has been shown the door, replaced by wild card Tony Vitello, the first MLB manager to assume a managerial role straight from the college coaching ranks. Tony V has taken over the Giants dugout with no professional experience either playing or coaching. Instead, his resume has been built over the last eight seasons as the Tennessee Volunteers head coach, where he revitalized the program enough to win them a national championship and make the Vols a staple in Omaha.
According to the betting public, Vitello has inherited a team that again is expected to lose another 81 games. 19 teams have shorter odds of winning the World Series than the Giants currently do. A playoff appearance is always expected when you talk Giants baseball, but when you consider their division consists of the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks, playing beyond September could look like a stretch at the moment.
Two impact players that San Francisco won’t have back from last year are 42-year-old Justin Verlander and consistent slugger Wilmer Flores. In their place, the Giants have acquired starting pitches in Tyler Mahle and Adrain Houser, as well as outfielder Harrison Bader and second baseman Luis Arraez. Suffice it to say, the stove could have been a bit hotter for Buster this winter, if we’re being honest.
Arraez very well might be the Giants leadoff man this year, but not because of his speed (he’s only good for about 9 stolen bags a year) but instead because of his ability to avoid the strikeout. While most of the Giants are whiffing about 25% of the time, Arraez has just a 3% strikeout rate, as he features an uncanny ability to put bat to ball in an era where that is no longer sexy. The .317 career hitter from Venezuela hit just 8 homers last year in San Diego while mostly playing first base. For the Giants, he’ll move back over to second, where he’ll try to improve on his defensive woes with the help of glove whisperer Ron Washington, one of Vitello’s recent coaching hires.
The Giants need a monster year from Rafael Devers (Photo by Jeff Chiu/AP)
The Giants best player is Rafael Devers. The Dominican slugger who came over from the Red Sox last season will man first base all year while making $30 million dollars. Last year, he delivered 35 homers. 40 would be nice in 2026, especially if the Giants have hopes of a playoff berth.
Willy Adames, another Dominican star who, like Devers, won’t compete in the World Baseball Classic next month, contributed 30 homers of his own last season in SF while playing a smooth shortstop. His issue last year was his low .225 batting average, especially for a guy making $26 million a year.
Bay Area staple Matt Chapman will again be the team’s most accomplished defender. At 32 years old, Chapman is the elder statesman among the everyday players on the squad. Back in 2019 Chapman hit 36 homers with the A’s in Oakland. With just 21 bombs last year, can Chappy rekindle some of that old Oakland magic this season?
Fan favorite June Hoo Lee was healthy all last year after playing just 37 games the year prior. In 2025, Lee patrolled the outfield for 150 games with his entertaining and fearless style of play. He’ll look to improve on his 10 stolen bases and 8 homers from a year ago as he learns to play the ball off the bricks in right field.
In left the Giants will trot out Heliot Ramos. Ever since Barry Bonds departed left field, San Francisco still hasn’t figured out how to get proper production out of this key power spot in the lineup. The 2017 first round pick from Puerto Rico is a home grown success story for the Giants, but now that he’s 26, they’re hoping for upwards of 30 homers in a breakout season.
The aforementioned Bader will patrol center field for the Giants this year. Now with his seventh organization, Bader will try to make a home for himself at 3rd and King. He’ll bring some flair to the position, but Vitello and Posey are counting on some real production as well.
Lower down in the lineup, Bryce Eldridge will likely be in the DH spot. Still just 20 years old, Eldrige has unlimited upside with the bat in his 6 foot 7 inch frame. Eldrige is considered the organization's number one prospect, but in his 10 big league games at the end of last year, he struck out 35% of the time in his 37 plate appearances with 0 homers. A hot start in 2026 would help his confidence immensely.
Patrick Bailey and his silky smooth catching abilities will again be behind the dish for the Giants. He won the Gold Glove last season and was durable enough to play135 games. His defense is flawless and a joy to watch. Offensively, not so much. Six homers and a .222 average needs to be improved on from last year.
With free swinging Casey Schmitt and energizer bunny Drew Gilbert as their current bench options, the Giants will be looking to add a bat or two as the season progresses. As it stands, the offensive firepower might not be enough to support a pitching staff that features All-Star Logan Webb, talented lefty Robbie Ray and three other ho-hum starters with uninspiring numbers. Perhaps the weakest link to the Giants 26-man roster lies in the bullpen. Ryan Walker who features a sinker and slider figures to be the closer as of now. However, outside of Walker, it’s anybody’s guess how this Giants pen will stack up in the mid to late innings against teams like the Dodgers and Padres. Posey will need to find a competent lefty sooner rather than later to come get some outs.
Recent debates in the baseball world have invariably circled back to the Dodgers and if their gigantic payroll is starting to “break baseball.” If you listen to Giants brass, they will tell you they are up for the challenge and are motivated to rise to the standard. As it stands, the modern Evil Empire from SoCal is sitting at 2 to 1 odds to three-peat as World Series champs, while the Giants are ridiculous long shots at 65 to 1. Tony Vitello and his scrappy roster no doubt have their work cut out for them if they want to keep their head above water in the NL West. That being said, in 2026 a playoff appearance should be the goal, if not an expectation, regardless of the circumstances. Jon Miller would have it no other way.
Expect more than a few “Jung Hoo Lee” chants at Oracle Park this summer (photo via x.com/SFGiants)
Heartbreaking image shows A's new stadium under construction in Las Vegas
/
By Connor Buestad | Connor@Section925.com
What a horrible image to behold. Thanks to “Construction Cam” on the once respectable Oakland A’s website, there is now visual proof that John Fisher has successfully pulled the most shallow and money hungry move in professional sports. We’ve known for years this was the endgame, but it’s still disturbing to actually see with your own two eyes. A stadium is really on it’s way up on the Las Vegas strip. The third base line will be across the street from the Luxor and the fake 110-foot tall replica of the Sphinx of Giza from Egypt. Centerfield runs into the fake skyline of the New York New York Hotel, while the first base side runs up agains the MGM Grand. What a total joke. Pete Rose is officially rolling over in his grave. Will they have gambling portals on the back of every seat? They actually might.
The Oakland Athletics were once the pride of East Bay and a west coast baseball treasure. Even with Mt. Davis up in center and all the foul ground around home plate, the Oakland Coliseum was a beautiful setting to watch a baseball game in a city that loved and appreciated the sport. To think that the A’s are now just another gimmicky show right off the strip in Vegas is just sad. We all eventually had to figure this was coming, but to see the field take shape in the desert of Nevada at the intersection of slot machines and blackjack tables will never look right at all. Shame on John Fisher and his cronies for doing this to Bay Area baseball fans. The Baseball God’s aren’t going to let this monstrosity go unpunished. Let’s go Oakland…
(Photos) Bill Belichick and North Carolina fall to Cal 21-18 in Berkeley
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Connor@Section925.com
(Opinion) Real Madrid and Barcelona show us the potential pitfalls of robot umpires
/
Photo by David Ramos / Getty images
By Connor Buestad | Connor@Section925.com
Tuning into El Classico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday morning was supposed to get me 90 minutes of The Beautiful Game with a collection of the greatest soccer players in the world, only interrupted by a brief halftime, long enough for me to refill my coffee while I ignored the block of commercials. I was fully bought in. I knew I wasn’t going to have to run the risk of a Jonas Brothers concert breaking out in the middle of play like I did the night before during Game 2 of the World Series. I was prepared for beautiful passes, brilliant touches and uncanny finishes by the likes of Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Marcus Rashford and Pedri. What I got instead was a tutorial in how powerful the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is nowadays in the world of soccer. Basically if an important play occurred, the game suddenly stopped while they dissected said play on video replay. They eventually came to a conclusion on how to call the foul and half the fans were still convinced they got it wrong. It got me thinking, is this what we want baseball, an already slow game, to turn into? Are we sure the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) robotic umpire system is the direction we have to go in?
The VAR palooza in this morning’s match started less than two minutes in, as Vini Jr. was taken down by 18-year-old phenom Yamal inside the box. It looked to the naked eye like an obvious penalty and even after watching the video replay, both announcers agreed it should be a PK. “There’s no doubt about that being a penalty,” they assured us. Instead, after minutes of deliberation the call on the pitch was overturned and no penalty was awarded. Nil-nil the score remained.
Less than ten minutes later, Real Madrid struck again, this time courtesy of French icon Mbappe as he cracked a one timer from well outside the box for a beautiful goal, leaving the keeper with no chance. The stadium erupted in celebration. A magical goal from a magical finisher, performing at the top of his game, in one of the biggest matches of the year. The only thing that could get in the way of the moment was a high definition computer program that could somehow prove he was one centimeter offside. That’s exactly what happened. When Mbappe finally did score, for real, in the 21st minute, I really had no idea if I should get excited about it or just wait to watch the whole episode on replay to confirm if it was really a goal or not. At this point, VAR replay had me exhausted. Little did I know, a debated handball off the foot of Rashford would result in even more delays early in the second half.
I guess this means Mbappe was not onside?
The rest of the match was played as expected, at an extremely high level with stars of the game everywhere you looked. But the starts and stops and total reliance on video at the start of the match soured the rest of it for me, I must admit. Fermin Lopez scored a beautiful goal for Barcelona to equalize things and Bellingham scored what proved to be the game winner late in the first half for Madrid, but the match ended just as choppy as it started, with both clubs jawing at each other on the sideline, even more distraction from the the play on the pitch.
Late in Game 7 of the ALCS last week, with a trip to the World Series hanging in the balance, the Mariners’ Eugenio Suarez got rung up on a curveball outside of the strike zone in a huge spot. The pitch was dangerously close to the zone and the umpire took the liberty to rock back and ring up Suarez. Naturally, Suarez got in the umpire’s face a bit and gave him a piece of his mind, before turning around and walking to the dugout. It was a classic baseball play. Great pitch, tough call, and intense reaction. Onto the next play. Instead, next year that same pitch will stop the game for five to ten minutes. It will be analyzed on replay in slo-motion while advertisers pump a few more spots in front of you while you wait. The end result will still be disagreement. Boos will still rain down from the upper deck, gamblers will still throw beer cans at their TV. The only difference is that they will be yelling at a robot.
(Photos) Cal wins their home opener over Texas Southern 35-3
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Connor@Section925.com
(Photos) The Dog Days of August at San Jose Municipal
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925.com
(Photos) San Diego FC beats San Jose 2-1 to rise atop the MLS table
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925.com
The Golden State Valkyries have the Bay Area's attention and more
/
Photo by Connor Buestad - Section925
By Connor Buestad - connor@Section925.com
The positive energy outside of Chase Center for a Golden State Valkyries game is palpable. Upon arrival, you’re met with brand new soft-purple Valks merchandise on fans young and old. Basketball heads eager for a “Great Time Out” like the days at the Arena in Oakland when the Warriors were lovably horrible line the streets on the way toward the arena. The fan base is simultaneously familiar and foreign. The majority clearly come from the same family tree as Oakland Dubs fans, while others seem to be stumbling in to just see what this new team with a unique name is all about.
When you enter the state-of-the art NBA arena to see the 29th season of WNBA basketball (now featuring it’s 15th team), it’s hard not to notice the behemoth jumbotron hanging out over in front of you, daring you to watch its ultra-HD contents. (Even the game itself is hard to avoid watching on-screen vs the real life players on the hardwood). In-arena host Ari Waller is already hard at work promoting the roving DJ, along with a slew of modern distractions designed to get the new fan base lathered up for top level women’s hoops. Everything about the atmosphere feels like a regular season Warriors game. Nothing about it is second rate.
As tipoff approaches, the Valkyries let you know more than a few times that you’re actually in a fictional world called “Ballhalla.” To clarify, this is an ode to Nordic mythologies of the ancient Scandinavians. “Valhalla” was once ruled over by an ancient god who welcomed female warriors who have died in battle. A valkyrie itself was a female who decided who would die in battle. “Valkyrie” translates directly to "chooser of the slain." On this given Saturday at Chase Center, the Las Vegas Aces (owned by both Tom Brady and Mark Davis) died in battle at the hands of the Valkyries in an upset blowout. Brady was absent from the festivities, but yes, Davis and his Lloyd Christmas haircut were prominent in the front row throughout.
Natalie Nakase serves as the head coach of the Valkyries, this being her first head coaching gig in the WNBA. Across from her perch on the sideline is Jess Smith, the fearless president of the expansion squad, wearing a power suit and giving off the same type of aura as Joe Lacob does most nights for the Warriors. The gameplan to slow down superstar A’ja Wilson only slightly works, but the Valkyries counter her 17 points by going an impressive 17 of 18 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, from beyond the arc, Kayla Thornton erupted for 22 points and hit four of the teams 10 threes. By the end of the third quarter, the Valkyries remained in full control and the arena was repeatedly erupting into a standing ovation. By game’s end, Chase Center had turned into a party and no dunks were needed. The people were sufficiently entertained.
Filing out of the arena, smiles abounded from both young and old, male and female. The score and outcome helped, sure, but above all, the fans seemed more thrilled with the fact that the Valkyries were here in The Bay and easily selling out the city’s biggest arena, night after night. The WNBA is on a heater right now, with no signs of slowing down. Just the other day, three more future expansion teams were announced, which will bump up the league total to 18 teams after Cleveland, Detroit and Philly jump into the booming business of women’s basketball.
For now, the Golden State Valkyries clearly have next and they are not shy about enjoying their moment in the spotlight. The ladies in purple are thriving and Ballhalla is creating a must-see atmosphere by The Bay. Do yourself a favor and see for yourself.
(Photos) Cal Baseball takes on the Boston College Eagles in Berkeley
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925
(Photos) Mikey Lewis shines as Saint Mary's beats Gonzaga 62-58 in a WCC Showdown
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925.com
(Photos) The SF City College Rams take on the Laney College Eagles in Oakland
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925
(Photos) North Carolina takes on Stanford in a battle of two storied soccer programs
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925
(Photos) Miami erases a 25-point second half deficit to beat Cal 39-38
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925
(Photos) The Bronx Bombers take on the A's in their last ever trip to Oakland
/
Photos by Connor Buestad - Section925
