Earlier this year when we polled musicians about their predictions for the 2021 MLB season, few were as colorful (which honestly, really shouldn’t be all that surprising) as ex-Blink-182 and current Angels & Airwaves frontman Tom DeLonge. He had high hopes for his beloved San Diego Padres, who boasted one of the strongest rosters and best young players in baseball coming into the spring.
As the season progressed, the Padres are in a dogfight with the San Francisco Giants and DeLonge’s hated Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division crown and the two subsequent Wild Card spots. However, as DeLonge notes, he’d rather win the division than play one of those two teams in a winner-take-all Wild Card.
Early on the same morning when he was slated to take the Lollapalooza stage (and a day after the trade deadline), DeLonge met us in the lobby of a hotel adjacent to Grant Park. The always energetic DeLonge was, as expected, fired up about his Padres. He also told us that he’s got a few other things in the works, including plans to direct a movie about baseball and finally bringing his Poet Anderson series from a handful of years back to the big screen.
But for now, here’s DeLonge’s prognosis on how the rest of the season will unfold for his Friars.
SPIN: So how do you feel after the trade deadline? How do you feel about your Friars?
Tom DeLonge: You know, I feel good. We got ourselves an awesome hitter with [Adam] Frazier. You know, we lost out on [Max] Scherzer because the Dodgers…but I understand, I mean, the Dodgers are insecure. They don’t like themselves, they have really low self-esteem, as you already know, and most of them are sex addicts. So, they needed to get a little bit more sizzle in there to make them feel better about themselves. And they stole Scherzer, so my hate grows.
What about the Giants?
I can’t get down on the Giants. Look, this is like World War II when we had to work with Russia against the Nazis, like the Giants and Padres got to come together and we got to attack L.A. I never really thought the Giants were so good. It was like where’s that coming from? That’s what’s so awesome about baseball. It’s just like, all these big moves and all these crazy numbers and then all of a sudden, this team that no one’s talking about just starts winning. It’s really cool.
So who has been the player that’s exceeded your expectations this year? It can’t be Tatis…
Nope, can’t be Tatis because he’s playing as expected. I think [Jake] Cronenworth. He was up for Rookie of the Year last year, he’s just crazy good. He’s been batting over .300 for two years straight and just killing it [Writer’s note: Cronenworth hit .285 last year and is hitting .279 this year, so he’s close]. Also, [Joe] Musgrove… I mean he threw a no-hitter and he’s still throwing like a 2 ERA or something [his current ERA is 2.94]. And you know, he’s from San Diego, so that’s cool. I like to see that. The local guy gone good.
So how did you even become such a huge baseball fan?
It’s a really great way to spend a lot of the summer days, and you get to be social when you go. It’s the kind of game where you can talk and dig into the sport. It’s also a great way for cities to compete against each other. I love it. I mean, I still love skateboarding, but baseball for some reason, when you really break it down, it’s like the best game ever invented. It’s just a stick and a ball. I’m making a baseball movie right now. It’ll be the second movie I directed and it’s important to me because I think within the story, if I nail it right, people are going to be able to learn some of that chess component that they don’t know.
So how’s the rest of the season gonna unfold?
First of all, there’s been this debate about the Wild Card, is it a single-elimination or is it three games?
One game.
My son was chopping my head off and was like ‘I’m telling you, it’s the best of three.’
[Shrugs] Well, he’s wrong.
So that means the Dodgers and the Padres have one chance… or it could be the Giants. My prediction is that we’re going to beat the Dodgers and we’ll play the Giants for the pennant. It’s gonna be a tough one. But I haven’t paid much attention to the Giants except that they’re winning. As for the AL, we just played the A’s and I don’t see the magic in them. The Astros, those motherfuckers, you know they’re going to cheat…
So if the Dodgers are sex addicts what are the Astros?
Hmmm. If the Dodgers are sex addicts, the Astros are most likely… I’m not gonna say this because I was gonna say something really fucked up. But, [looks around the lobby before takes a second to carefully consider] I think the Astros are just unloved by their mothers.
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