Buehler Shoves It — Padres 7, Dodgers 1 — World Cup Group Stage Done

It’s Saturday. Walker Buehler just shoved it. The World Cup group stage is officially done. And the Mets keep finding new ways to be jacked up.

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MLB

WALKER BUEHLER DELIVERS. PADRES 7, DODGERS 1.

Dave Roberts said before last night’s game that Walker Buehler would love nothing more than to “shove it up our you-know-whats.”

Buehler was asked about it after.

“I want to kick everyone’s ass,” Buehler said. “Doc is not wrong.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

Buehler went 5.1 innings, gave up one run on three hits, struck out five, and handed Roki Sasaki and the Dodgers a 7-1 beatdown at Petco Park in front of 43,153 fans.

Ty France was the other story. After Sasaki walked the first two batters he faced in the second inning, France turned on a low slider and launched a three-run homer to left that never looked like it was going anywhere but gone. France’s fourth homer in seven games. The Padres led 3-1 and never looked back.

Sasaki was a disaster. Five walks in four innings. Three runs. A season-high five walks. His ERA climbed back to 4.88 — the highest it’s been in a month. The new splitter everyone was raving about was nowhere to be found last night.

We will say this though — the Padres have been swinging at anything and everything the last few weeks and it’s been a big part of their problems. So throwing them pitches off the plate in key situations is probably what the scouting report called for. The Padres laid off those pitches last night and it led to their win.

The Padres blew it open in the eighth — Sung-mun Song two-run single, Rodolfo Durán RBI single, Fernando Tatis Jr. RBI single — four runs, 7-1 final. The Dodgers loaded the bases three times and scored once. That’s jacked.

Jacked Up Meter for the Dodgers: 7/10 The division lead is still 8 games. But Sasaki looks lost and Buehler looks angry. That’s a dangerous combination heading into seven games in ten days against San Diego.

UnJacked Up Meter for the Padres: 9.5/10 Five straight wins. Swept the Braves. Beat the Dodgers in Game 1. Buehler is locked in. If they keep playing like this July gets very interesting.

TONIGHT — GAME 2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-5, 2.65 ERA) takes the mound for the Dodgers against Randy Vásquez (6-5, 4.17 ERA) for San Diego. Yamamoto is the World Series MVP and went seven innings against the Padres earlier this year giving up one run. Vásquez just had his worst start of the season — seven runs in 3.1 innings. Tonight figures to go the other way. Watch it.

WORLD CUP 2026

THE GROUP STAGE IS OVER. HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED.

The last group stage games finished up yesterday and it was absolutely jacked up across the board.

FRANCE 4, NORWAY 1 Ousmane Dembélé. Hat trick. First half. France is terrifying. Three group stage wins. Zero drama. Dembélé looks like the best player at this tournament right now and France has assembled a squad that genuinely could win the whole thing. Norway showed some fight but had no answer for France’s pace.

Jacked Up Meter for Norway: 8/10 They go out having beaten Iraq and lost to France and Senegal. Erling Haaland scored but couldn’t drag them through. When your best player is a generational striker and you still go out in the group stage — that’s jacked.

SENEGAL 5, IRAQ 0 Senegal is alive. Five goals. Absolutely dominant. They finish third in the group but have enough points to potentially advance as one of the best third-place teams.

BELGIUM 5, NEW ZEALAND 1 Belgium finally showed up. After two draws to start the tournament everyone wrote them off. They responded with five goals and punched their ticket to the knockout stage. Kevin De Bruyne with a masterclass.

EGYPT 1, IRAN 1 Iran needed a win to advance. They drew. A VAR decision overturned a late Iran winner that would have sent them through. The Iranian players were collapsed on the field crying. That is maximum jacked energy.

SPAIN 1, URUGUAY 0 Spain advances. Uruguay goes home. Cape Verde held Saudi Arabia 0-0 and squeaked through as one of the best third-place teams. Cape Verde at a World Cup. Still wild.

THE KNOCKOUT STAGE STARTS TOMORROW Round of 32 begins June 28. The USA doesn’t play until July 1 vs Bosnia in Santa Clara. France plays Sweden June 30. Argentina vs Cape Verde — Messi vs the underdog story of the tournament. That one is going to be jacked up in the best possible way.

THE METS KEEP GETTING MORE JACKED

Carlos Mendoza fired. Andy Green takes over as interim manager. 34-47 record. $375 million payroll. Last place in the NL East. Six-game losing streak. Six errors in one game.

Juan Soto returned to the lineup June 25 but his back is still being monitored. Francisco Lindor has only played 25 games all season. Jorge Polanco hasn’t played since mid-April.

This is one of the most jacked up situations in sports right now. A team with one of the two highest payrolls in baseball playing like a Triple-A club. New manager, same problems.

Jacked Up Meter for the 2026 Mets: 10/10

UNJACKED UP PLAY OF THE DAY

Ty France. 0-2 count. Low Sasaki slider. Three-run homer to left. No doubt. The Padres haven’t looked back since.

MOST JACKED UP MOMENT

Sasaki walking five batters in four innings against a division rival. Credit the Padres for not swinging at everything like they have been.

SEE YOU TOMORROW

Yamamoto on the mound tonight. Knockout stage begins tomorrow. Bosnia is five days away for the USA. Someone will get hurt today. Someone will make a terrible decision. We’ll cover every jacked up moment of it.