Padres' record-shattering $3.9B price tag proves MLB is plenty healthy

Major League Baseballjust received its most startling data point in a year that will be defined by them.

TheSan Diego Padresare a (nearly) $4 billion franchise.

Forget existential crises, attention economies, disparate and increasingly complex TV situations and, dare we say, salary caps and luxury tax thresholds. If the industry - and that includes owners, players and fans - ever needed a crystal clear sign that the game is healthy, that spending some money might actually make you a little money in the end, the impending purchase of the Padres will be it.

Private equity baron Jose E. Feliciano - and that's apparently a career prerequisite for owning a ball club these days and wife Kwanza Jones - are on the verge of a $3.9 billion transaction to buy the club from the Seidler family trust, theWall Street Journal reported.

It is a staggering amount, not just because it's a 62.5% increase on the record $2.4 billion Steve Cohen spent to buy theNew York Metsin 2020. Hey, inflation is a bear and franchises appreciate. It happens.

Just not like this, and not for a club like the Padres.

We've heard the two to three strikes against them for years: San Diego is bordered by the Los Angeles region (and its two MLB franchises) to the north, Mexico to the south and the desert to the east. The Padres were also the very first team whose local broadcast situation collapsed to the point MLB had to take over production and distribution, way back in 2023.

So just how did the Padres, their TV model collapsing, their geographic situaton no better, go from a $600 million valuation when the club was last purchased in 2012 to nearly twice the purchase price of the Mets, who have their own lucrative TV network and a position in the game's largest media market?

Well, sometimes when you spend a little money, you can make it back.

The Padres' ownership group - Ron Fowler and then the Seidler family, with the late patriarch Peter Seidler still talked about reverentially around Petco Park - has been on one for the last eight years. It started with a slow drip - a nine-figure contract in 2018 for first baseman Eric Hosmer, an overpay that let the world know San Diego was open for business.

Across Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson Day is observed as players take the field wearing the same number in recognition of his legacy.

These images show moments from around the league as teams mark the occasion during regular‑season play.

Above, Simeon Woods Richardson #24 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the second inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

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Scenes from Jackie Robinson Day across the MLB

Across Major League Baseball,Jackie Robinson Dayis observed as players take the field wearing the same number in recognition of his legacy.These images show moments from around the league as teams mark the occasion during regular‑season play.Above, Simeon Woods Richardson #24 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the second inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

It went into hyperspace mode a year later, with a $300 million guarantee to Manny Machado. And since then, Seidler's checkbook and GM AJ Preller's impetuous and sometimes insane but always forward-looking transactions have kept it pushing at Petco.

Ah, Petco Park. No worse than the fourth-greatest park in the game yet a place that could never attrack more than 1.9 to 2.1 million fans in eight of 10 seasons from 2009 to 2018.

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Now, look at 'em.

The attendance meter has only gone up, up, up since 2019, COVID notwithstanding, and in 2023, the club's first full season after Preller traded for Juan Soto, the team cracked the 3 million mark for the first time since Petco's opening year of 2004.

Preller has barely slowed doling out big paychecks (Xander Bogaerts, $280 million, Machado $350 million after an opt-out) and neither have the turnstiles stopped whirring. The club drew a franchise-record 3.4 million last season and are behaving like they have the entire market to themselves (which, along with the San Diego Surf, they do, after the Chargers left).

Now, we said the game was healthy, not perfect.

The club's frenetic spend has slowed since Seidler's tragic passing in November 2023. Many a modern executive would term their payroll commitments "unsustainable," and they'd probably be right.

Yet this was no Ponzi scheme. The Padres' four playoff berths the past six seasons were very real, as were the millions who populated their ballpark. As is the $3.9 billion reportedly about to make the Seidler heirs wealthy beyond their imagination.

Jose E. Feliciano set to become Padres' new owner

MLB needed this, in a sense. Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed satisfaction, but hardly rabid enthusiasm, over the Baltimore Orioles' $1.73 billion purchase price. The Tampa Bay Rays sold for a similar $1.7 billion and now hope to leveragepolitical cloutto strong-arm a stadium in Tampa.

The Padres have no such worries. Petco isn't going anywhere and, apparently, neither are the fans, who have come out more than 40,000 strong for 10 of the Padres' first 13 home dates.

Yes, the Padres. Which is one reason why the upcoming labor war won't engender too many sympathetic cries from players. Management and labor will hammer out a deal knowing that the true Armageddon comes in 2028, when MLB's entire national TV inventory hits the market.

But this purchase price is a pretty big tell, and another argument that the sport should not screw up what it has going on right now in favor of a civil war.

After all, the Padres are a $4 billion team, and a bigwig like Feliciano - co-founder of Clearlake Capital Group and part owner of the Chelsea soccer club - viewed them as a good investment, still. No telling if he can continue pushing them toward a first World Series title.

Yet the franchise is already an example of what's possible even in a decidedly imperfect economic landscape.

Green Cathedrals: Photo journey through all 30 MLB stadiums

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Padres MLB record sale to new owner Jose E. Feliciano, Kwanza Jones

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

April 18, 2026

Padres' record-shattering $3.9B price tag proves MLB is plenty healthy

Major League Baseballjust received its most startling data point in a year that will be defined by them. TheSan Diego Padresare a...

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Kelly, Rea help lead the Cubs to a 10-4 comeback win over the Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carson Kelly hit a three-run homer, Colin Rea pitched six strong innings and the Chicago Cubs rallied to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-4 on Tuesday night.

Cubs Phillies Baseball

Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman each had three RBIs for the Cubs.

Edmundo Sosa homered for the Phillies.

Chicago broke a 3-all tie with four runs in the sixth inning off Tim Mayza (0-1). Hoerner and Bregman each had two-run singles in the inning and the Cubs were aided by a Phillies miscue.

After Mayza put runners on first and second with one out with a walk and hit batter, Dansby Swanson hit a hard grounder back to the pitcher that was a potential double play. Mayza threw slightly off target to second base, and Bryson Stott could not make the catch. Stott was charged with a fielding error on the play. Instead of runners on first and second with two outs, or an inning-ending double play, Chicago had the bases loaded with one out.

Hoerner made Philadelphia pay with a liner to center. After Brad Keller replaced Mayza, Bregman knocked in two more runs.

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Rea (2-0) followed opener Riley Martin, who worked a 1-2-3 first. He surrendered Sosa’s three-run homer to left-center that gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead before retiring 16 of the next 17 batters, including 10 in a row to close his outing. Rea struck out five and walked none.

Philadelphia got a run back in the eighth and threatened for more with the bases loaded and two outs, but Caleb Thielbar struck out pinch-hitter Alec Bohm to end the inning. Kyle Schwarber extended his on-base streak to 15 games with a one-out single in the inning.

Kelly made it a six-run advantage with his first homer of the season in the ninth off Tanner Banks.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola lasted five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits.

Up next

Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (0-1, 2.81) opposes Phillies LHP Jesús Luzardo (1-2, 6.23) on Wednesday night in the rubber game of the three-game series.

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

April 17, 2026

Kelly, Rea help lead the Cubs to a 10-4 comeback win over the Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carson Kelly hit a three-run homer, Colin Rea pitched six strong innings and the Chicago Cubs rallied to beat the P...

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Russian missiles and drones bombard Ukraine at night, killing at least 16 people

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 80 others in its biggest aerial barrage in almost two weeks, officials said Thursday.

APTOPIX Russia Ukraine War

Russia launched nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, primarily targeting civilians, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Thursday on X.

At least four people were killed in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old, with more than 50 others injured, Sybiha said.

Nine people were killed and 23 injured in the southern port city of Odesa, three were killed and around three dozen injured in the central Dnipro region, and one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia in the south.

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“Such attacks cannot be normalized. These are war crimes that must be stopped and their perpetrators held to account,” Sybiha said on X.

Ukraine’s air force said air defenses shot down or disabled 667 out of 703 incoming targets, including 636 Shahed-type drones and other uncrewed aerial vehicles.

It said 20 strike drones and 12 missiles hit 26 locations.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine athttps://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

April 17, 2026

Russian missiles and drones bombard Ukraine at night, killing at least 16 people

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight, killing at lea...

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Mexico’s Sheinbaum pushes back on Trump over migrant deaths and Cuba

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government on Tuesday protested the deaths of its citizens in U.S. immigration custody asPresident Claudia Sheinbaumpushes back againstU.S. President Donald Trump'spolicies on multiple fronts.

Mexico Cuban Doctors

The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting U.S. requests to crack down on criminal cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offsetthreats of tariffsand U.S. military action against the gangs.

But in the wake ofmounting deaths of Mexican citizens in custody of immigration officialsand the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba — a key Mexican ally — Sheinbaum has taken a harder line.

“We’ve seen the president raise her tone,” said Palmira Tapia, an analyst for Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “There’s been a shift, and we’ve seen Sheinbaum be more vocal than before.”

Deaths in ICE custody

Sheinbaum's latest rebuke came on Tuesday, a day after 49-year-old Mexican citizen Alejandro Cabrera Clemente died in a detention center in Louisiana of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, the fifteenth death of a Mexican citizen in U.S. custody in little over a year.

Mexico's government quickly called the deaths “unacceptable” and the ICE detention centers "incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.”

During a Tuesday press briefing Sheinbaum added that she requested investigations into the deaths of the 15 migrants, and instructed Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily.

She said her government would raise the deaths in detention centers to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was considering appealing to the United Nations. Her government already said it would support lawsuits in the U.S. filed by detainees over poor conditions.

“We are going to defend Mexicans at every level,” Sheinbaum said, adding that “there are many Mexicans whose only crime is not having papers.”

The moves by Sheinbaum's government come on top of mounting disapproval in the U.S. of Trump's immigration enforcement. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents into American cities, according to a February AP-NORCpoll.

“Growing dissatisfaction around ICE activities in the United States creates a more comfortable platform for members of the Mexican government to raise concerns about the fate of Mexican citizens,” said Carin Zissis, vice president of content strategy for the Council of the Americas.

A ‘cool head’

Sheinbaum has maintained what she has described as a “cool head” to provocations by Trump, who has exerted more pressure on Latin America than any U.S. leader in decades. In just a few months, the Trump administration deposed Venezuela's president,imposed an oil blockade on Cubaandthreatened military interventionagainst Mexican cartels.

She has to balance maintaining a strong relationship with Trump while repeatedly stressing Mexico's sovereignty to appease her own base. Her measured responses resemble that of a lawyer rather than the head of Mexico’s most powerful populist political movement.

Her government has come down harder on cartels than her predecessor and bolstered trade relations ahead of renegotiations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, free trade agreement.

While Trump has taken public jabs at Sheinbaum — at one point suggesting cartels have greater control over Mexico than her government — he's also regularly made nods to their amicable relationship.

“She is really a nice person, I like her a lot,” he said last month, proceeding to imitate the Mexican leader in a high voice.

Divide over Cuba

But shifting geopolitics in the region, and the mounting deaths in ICE facilities, have also opened the door for Sheinbaum to take a firmer stance.

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The main point of contention between the two governments has been Cuba. Solidarity with the U.S. adversary has been a cornerstone of Mexico’s political ethos since the Cuban revolution, which Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara and a group of exiles famously planned while in Mexico City. It's a particular sticking point with her progressive Morena party, whose founder ushered Sheinbaum into office.

The relationship hit a hurdle in late January, when Trump announced he wouldslap tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. The move directly impacted Mexico, which for years has shipped oil to Cuba.

While Sheinbaum reluctantlypaused oil shipments to Cuba, she has continued to challenge the Trump administration's push for regime change.

“Mexico has every right to send fuel, whether for humanitarian or commercial reasons,” Sheinbaum said earlier this week.

She has described Trump's energy blockade of Cuba as “unjust” and accused the U.S. government of “suffocating” Cubans with sanctions. The Mexican leader hassent shipments of food and other aid, and even donated $1,000 of her own money to relief efforts in a symbolic gesture.

“This is a Rubicon issue for her," said Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican ambassador to the U.S.

Even then, the moves by the Mexican leader have raised eyebrows in Washington.

Sheinbaum recently announced that her countrywould continue to have Cuban doctors work in the country, diverging from other nations in Central America and the Caribbean that have ended their programs in the face of U.S. pressure.

It was met with veiled threats from the Trump administration, which pointed to visa restrictions imposed on Central American officials with ties to what U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to as a “forced labor scheme.”

The White House offered no comment on Tuesday about Sheinbaum's tougher stances, nor did it comment on the rising number of deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE custody.

Greater leverage

Sheinbaum's recently bolder tone suggests a calculation that her administration can push back on some politically important fronts as long as they also are making progress on strengthening trade and meeting Trump administration requests on security and migration, Zissis said.

At the same time, surging energy prices due to theIran warhave made the U.S. more dependent on allies in Mexico, she and other analysts said, prompting Washington to walk back from any drastic moves against Mexican cartels or Cuba, at least in the short term.

”We’re at a moment where, due to global events, we’re facing different economic uncertainties. That gives the U.S. and Mexico more reason to work together," she said.

At the same time, former Mexican ambassador Sarukhan said that Sheinbaum will have to be careful not to put at risk upcoming USMCA renegotiations, for which her government has made painstaking efforts to build a strong foundation.

"What’s going to be interesting going forward is whether she can continue to have her cake and eat it too,” Sarukhan said.

Weissert reported from Washington D.C.

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

April 17, 2026

Mexico’s Sheinbaum pushes back on Trump over migrant deaths and Cuba

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government on Tuesday protested the deaths of its citizens in U.S. immigration custody asPresident Claud...

Read More