SAN DIEGO — It’s fair for Padres fans to reach for the antacids after learning about a 97-page lawsuit filed Monday, nearly 1,200 miles east of Petco Park in Travis County, Texas.

The widow of late and beloved franchise owner Peter Seidler is suing two of his brothers, Matthew and Robert, for “fiduciary breaches of trust” and “fraud” in a flared-nostrils struggle for team control.

In the suit, Sheel Seidler claims the brothers are conspiring to wrest away the rights of her and the couple’s three children to be the Padres’ primary decision-makers now and into the future.

The outcome? That will be sorted out by a small army of lawyers.

Those antacids? Those are tied to reasonable hand-wringing about what it could mean for a franchise that the late owner worked tirelessly to position among baseball’s best.

The questions and concerns swirl.

The decade-long buildup of the Padres from MLB afterthought to a few runs away from two trips to the NLCS in three seasons was fueled, in large and undeniable part, by the unprecedented resources Seidler invested.

He pushed money into the middle of the table for Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts and more. He and President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller chased the biggest names in the sport, forcing the team into the national conversation.

So who holds the purse strings today matters mightily. Suddenly, there is massive uncertainty about who will tomorrow and for so many tomorrows after that.

The suit offers one version of the concerning flames behind the scenes. The Padres, for their part, aren’t talking. So those who follow the team are left to fret and wonder.

Could the fallout get so tangled in court that it leads to a sale? That’s a worst-case scenario, of course, but it’s impossible to say where this all lands.

Is lack of clarity about team leadership and who signs the checks limiting what the Padres are doing this offseason — or most importantly, not doing — as financial control is being determined?

The Padres last month announced that Peter Seidler’s oldest brother, John, would be the team’s new control person. He Eric Kutsenda, a founder of Seidler Equity Partners along with Peter Seidler.

Has all the shuffling and pitched battle to come created hesitation?

There could be other ripples.

What if the now-public unease scares off potentially franchise-altering pitching star Roki Sasaki? Though no one outside his camp has a full glimpse behind the curtain, the process of picking a team has seemed very businesslike so far.

The Padres could be a perfect fit for Sasaki in many ways, but the timing of a mess in Aisle 4 seems troubling. Do the Padres want this smoke with a game-changing arm mulling a decision that could so hugely impact the franchise?

Absolutely not.

Potentially long-term turmoil comes at a time when the chase for the postseason in the National League West alone is getting harder and harder.

The Giants got Willy Adames. The Diamondbacks got Corbin Burnes. The Dodgers got … everybody.

Seidler, a two-time cancer survivor, died on Nov. 14, 2023, at age 63. Sheel Seidler told the San Diego Union-Tribune during an extensive interview in October that it was from an infection that attacked his compromised immune system.

In the interview, she said the family’s plan was for Sheel to be the bridge to the children, who would eventually assume decision-making roles with the team.

It’s hard to imagine all of this would not have been hammered out long ago by the astute businessman who served as the public face of the franchise.

Now, the courts will decide.

If this unravels even more, could it undo the golden era of Padres baseball? Could it handcuff an organization that has taken so long, been so patient, to get to this point?

The Padres became winners. They became contenders. Baseball being baseball, they have enough talent to keep swinging for the biggest fences.

The future, however, quickly has gotten murkier than anyone imagined.

Sheel Seidler has said over and again that she planned to continue investing in the club in the ways Peter championed. That position is on the record in ways that likely buoys faith and trust among fans.

She’s the known part of this equation to most. The extended family, by contrast, amounts to the great unknown. The impact on the team represents the greatest unknown.

It feels like a critical offseason for the Padres with far more work to come as money increasingly drives the conversation.

Pass the antacids.

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