San Diego Padres

Being a fan of the San Diego Padres, for the vast majority of the seasons since the team joined the league in 1969, has consisted of going to the ballpark to watch much better teams come to town and hand the hapless Padres* their coats. In 55 MLB seasons, the team from southern California (just a short drive from Mexico) has managed just 16 winning seasons (over .500) and appeared in the playoffs on just 7 occasions. While these are no doubt soul crushing numbers for even the most devoted Padres fans, the team still pulls in decent crowds, due in no small part to their spectacular stadium, Petco Park, that offers expansive views over downtown and San Diego Bay. Even by expansion team standards, the Padres got off to a rough start in MLB, failing to break the .400 mark (or even .390 mark) and finishing rock bottom in the basement of the NL West in their first six seasons. The team finished no higher than 4th in the six team division until 1984, when they shocked the baseball world, not only winning the NL West with a record of 92-70 but, led by the hitting of Steve Garvey, coming behind from two games down to beat the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS in a Game Five decider. The World Series proved a bridge too far, as the Detroit Tigers easily handled the upstart Padres in five games, but the team from San Diego had made their mark, serving notice to future opponents and filling their sun-baked fans with hope for the future. Times didn’t get quite as bleak as the early years, but it was still over a decade until the Padres showed their faces in October again, losing the 1996 NLDS in a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals despite having the best player (MVP Ken Caminiti) and best manager (MOY Bruce Bochy) of the year. To everyone’s surprise, the Padres sprung a huge surprise just two years later when they beat the Houston Astros and the fierce pitching of the Atlanta Braves to reach the 1998 World Series. Superstar Tony Gwynn, who had actually played in the 1984 team that made it to the World Series, was remarkably still going strong for the Padres in ‘98. The Padres slammed up against a brick wall in the shape of the New York Yankees, however, and were swept in four straight games. In traditional style, the team followed up this World Series appearance with five consecutive seasons under .500 before losing back-to-back NLDS encounters with the Cardinals in 2005 and 2006. The team took a nosedive after that for nearly a decade and a half, but have shown signs of life recently, winning two series in 2022 to advance to the NLCS (a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games). Whether the Padres can parlay this success into something greater in the years to come or whether they will fall back into one of their years/decades-long slumps again, only time will tell, but their laidback fans will no doubt be there for them, praying that a championship makes its way down to San Diego. 

San Diego Padres Rivalries

For a team that has spent so many years on its knees praying for elusive success, the Padres still have fairly strong rivalries with several teams, particularly on the West Coast with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are located just a short two-hour drive away, meaning that quite a few away fans make the trip, and the Seattle Mariners, a team that rivals or possibly even surpasses the Padres in terms of its perennial struggles. The Dodgers rivalry is further fueled by San Diego’s anger at the loss of the NBA’s Clippers and NFL’s Chargers franchises to the city of Los Angeles.

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*For those wondering what a padre is, it means “father” in Spanish as in a “priest” or similar clergyman. The team is called the Padres in reference to the Spanish friars who founded San Diego in the 18th century. This has led them to be nicknamed “the Dads” on occasion, as well as to the creation of their very odd mascot, the Swinging Friar (as in swinging a bat!).