San Diego Padres ownership drama creates golden opportunity for SF Giants

The SF Giants have been trying to improve their standing among their cohorts in the National League West for some time. Perhaps some ownership turmoil for the San Diego Padres could allow the Giants to catch up with them.

Ever since the death of Peter Seidler, there has been some drama amongst the Seidler family as to how to proceed and who had rightful control of the team. That did not seem to affect the Padres too much in 2025 even though they had a pretty quiet offseason, but maybe if the team is sold that will change things.

SF Giants have a chance to leapfrog Padres in NL West

The Seidler family released a statement saying that they are exploring selling the team while at the same time promising they are committed to trying to get the Padres a World Series title.

On its face, that would seem to suggest that this ownership drama will not affect the on-field product or how aggressive the Padres will be in free agency, but when considering selling a team you probably do not want to add a bunch of payroll prior to doing so.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller has said that pitching will be San Diego's biggest focus this offseason, not unlike the Giants. Michael King and Dylan Cease are both going to be free agents and Yu Darvish is going to miss all of 2026 after undergoing elbow surgery.

That means the Padres should be big players for some of the top rotation arms on the market, but if ownership is wary of adding any big contracts to the books prior to a sale then that could give the Giants a better shot in any sort of competition for a pitcher.

The Padres and Giants really are in a similar situation entering this offseason. Both teams have a need for starting pitching and will have a first-time big league manager in 2026, Tony Vitello in the case of the Giants and Craig Stammen in the case of the Padres.

The Giants will likely have self-imposed financial limitations from an ownership group not eager to dole out a big contract to a pitcher while the uncertainty surrounding San Diego's ownership situation could take them out of the running for some big pitchers.

Meanwhile, both are staring up at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West who have won two straight World Series titles and have not spared any expense in doing so.

Before conquering the Dodgers, the Giants must first leapfrog the Padres. San Diego still has a very talented roster, but maybe this potential change in ownership could open the door a bit for the Giants to gain ground on the Padres.