San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch grew up a San Diego Padres fan and still follows the Southern California ball club. However, more recently, he has had his eyes on the local baseball team—the San Francisco Giants. They currently sit atop the NL West and continue to add to the win column.
Early on, there weren't a whole lot of expectations for the Giants this season. Lynch, like many, thought the division might be a tight race between his Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers remain very much in the hunt but the Padres sit 16 games behind the Giants.
Being in the Bay Area, Lynch hears a lot about the Giants and their impressive 2021 run. That has inspired the 49ers general manager, who hopes his team can come together in the same way and rebound from an ugly and injury-plagued 2020 campaign.
"Everyone thought [it would be] Padres-Dodgers but what you're seeing is a baseball team," Lynch said, with the emphasis on "team."
"And it's contributions from different people every day. It's been an awesome thing to watch. So, that's what you're trying to build, is a team, and that's what we're working hard to do."
Coincidentally, as San Francisco and Los Angeles fight for the top spot in the NL West, many are expecting the same thing from the NFC West this season. The 49ers and Los Angeles Rams are the favorites to win the division, and potentially like their baseball counterparts, it could come down to the wire.
The Padres, on the other hand, entered the season with a lot of hype surrounding the team, only to be outshined by the obviously underrated Giants.
"It's nice to sometimes fly under the radar," Lynch admits. "... But ultimately, it's about how you go about your work each day. And yeah, us Padre fans deserve some heat this year."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
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