Bandwagon Beach – Details, episodes & analysis

I know that a lot of the people subscribed to this newsletter/podcast subscribed to hear my thoughts on the San Diego Padres. It’s been a while since I dove deep into the team and gave any sort of grand thoughts. So, I thought I’d do that today, starting with the media covering the Padres and then getting to the roster construction.

I haven’t hosted a podcast in a really long time. I haven’t posted a podcast on Substack ever. I wanted to see how it works, so I recorded myself talking about Juan Soto signing with the Mets and a personal obsession with comparing Fernando Tatis Jr. to Luka Doncic.

My friend George Wrighster is a Dodgers fan. It’s not his fault, he grew up in Los Angeles and lives there to this day. But imagine my surprise when he started texting me, after the Padres swept the Braves in the wild card series, with trash talk. I replied with my objective thoughts about the Dodgers (not realizing that George was on the air with SiriusXM at the time) and….well, you should probably just listen.

My wife Rebecca isn’t just a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, and she’s not just the person who made me a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, but she also covered the team for years as a beat reporter. We’ve spent the hours since the Luka Doncic trade trying to deal with our own emotions and decided to do some of it on a podcast. Enjoy! Unless you’re Nico Harrison. Then you should never enjoy anything ever again.

With so many known unknowns about the 2026 San Diego Padres, I thought now would be a perfect time to chat with Dylan from Letters to A.J. about all of them. We talked about Tatis hitting cleanup, faith in Nick Castellanos, Luis Campusano losing a major-league swing, the range of potential outcomes, the actual impact of ABS, strategies for Craig Stammen to implement, and what a fast sale could mean for this season.

Nick Burke is friends with John Gennaro and a former baseball player at UCSD. As such, the two of them don't always agree when it comes to their favorite baseball team, the San Diego Padres.

In this episode, John lays out all of the reasons he's worried about the 2026 Padres team before the season even begins and Nick adds his own perspective as both a fan and someone who has a better understanding on what is going on inside of a baseball player's head out on the field.

Darren Smith and John Gennaro don't know what to talk about today, which is how they end up spending a bunch of time talking about Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua, who (perhaps unknowingly) made an antisemitic gesture and said the NFL referees brag about missing calls while on a live stream with Adin Ross.

The guys talk about what can be done, what Nacua is or is not responsible for, and what the NFL or the Rams will do about the situation. (By the end of the podcast, Nacua's public apology was published and read by Darren.)

Darren and John then turn their attention to the world of darts, specifically the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship that is happening at Ally Pally over the next few weeks, and Section 1904 subscriber Mason is on the scene with a report about the big stories from the early matches and what to do in London as a tourist.

The guys end the show with some brief apologies for not spending much time on San Diego State basketball, who routed Air Force last night and has a huge game coming up against Arizona this weekend.

00:00 - Introduction

06:30 - Puka Nacua steps in it on Adin Ross' livestream

23:45 - A report from the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship in London

39:00 - Puka Nacua issues an apology / The new face of 'media'

50:00 - SDSU routs Air Force, Arizona is up next

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After a busy weekend of San Diego sports, Darren Smith and John Gennaro get together to talk about the San Diego Padres taking 2-of-3 from the Los Angeles Dodgers and then spend a ton of time debating whether manager Mike Shildt screwed up by bringing in Jeremiah Estrada in the 7th inning of a tie game on Sunday.

Later, the guys talk about San Diego FC being the first MLS team to clinch a spot in the playoffs and wonder if this is the best expansion team from a major league American sport in the last 50 years.

Timestamps

00:00 - Padres take series, but lose on Sunday vs. Dodgers

49:30 - San Diego FC's historic expansion season

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Darren Smith and John Gennaro are trying to temper their excitement for another weekend of Dodgers-Padres, this time at Petco Park. Both guys agree that the home team needs to show a bit more mental toughness and sharpness than what we saw at Dodger Stadium a week ago.

With the Portland Timbers coming to San Diego, the guys chat with Adam Susman about the similarities in the two cities and how Portland's supporters club can be something of an example for SDFC to follow and dig into what the perception of SDFC is outside of San Diego.

Afterwards, Darren and John talk about the kid who ran onto the field during a Padres game the other night and his attempts to make it into a viral marketing moment for a gym in Carlsbad.

00:00 - Padres/Dodgers series preview (again)

37:20 - INTERVIEW: Portland Timbers broadcast Adam Susman

68:30 - Kid who ran on the field has life advice

Section 1904 is a community-supported media company. If you like our content, considering subscribing at Section1904.com to support our work for as little as $5/month.

Darren and John traveled back downtown to Bottle Rocket Bar & Grill and talked about the San Diego Padres picking up a win against the San Francisco Giants last night, what's affecting Fernando Tatis Jr. (and why he's still great) and what changes Mike Shildt might make to the lineup this weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The guys also talked about how we, as San Diego sports fans, might feel about both the Padres and SDFC after this weekend.

Section 1904 is a community-supported media company. If you like our content, considering subscribing at Section1904.com to support our work for as little as $5/month.