San Diego Padres send surprising message to fans amidst season delay

San Diego Padres only NL West team to address fans directly after MLB cancels beginning of 2022 season

For Major League Baseball fans, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the lockout tunnel at this point. It’s even harder to feel valued by the league and team owners, as they initiated the lockout in the first place, which slammed the brakes on the offseason, delayed Spring Training, canceled the first two series of the regular season, created a toxic work environment with the players, and broke the hearts of fans.

Ironically, the laundry list of lockout repercussions is longer than well, a baseball game.

But amidst the news that MLB is canceling – not delaying – the first two series of the regular season, the San Diego Padres made a move that no other team in the NL West did: they addressed their fans directly.

Search the rest of MLB, and you won’t find letters like these.

While the current frustrating context may make this feel like a meaningless gesture, at least they made the gesture at all; no other NL West team’s executives did.

Seidler has an interesting connection to the Padres’ NL West rivals. He is the grandson of Walter O’Malley, who owned the Dodgers from 1950-79. O’Malley brought MLB to California, first by moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and then by facilitating the Giants’ move from their Polo Grounds in New York, to San Francisco.

O’Malley’s son, also named Peter, succeeded his father with the Dodgers in the 1970s, selling them to Rupert Murdoch in 1998.

Morale is low, and aside from the refunds Seidler mentions, this letter doesn’t do much to improve that. However, it’s better than being a fan of the teams staying silent.