Top 5 San Diego Padres Teams Of All-Time

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Let’s face it; we’ve had more great individual stars in San Diego than we have had great teams. The late great Tony Gwynn, stars Dave Winfield, Randy Jones (who played on more losing teams than winning) and Trevor Hoffman lead the way. All of whom are in Cooperstown, or just in the Padres Hall Of Fame. Right now though, we’re going to take a look at the best teams the Padres have ever put on the diamond, which if you think about it, shouldn’t be too hard.

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The Padres have only been to the postseason five times in their 45-year history. So you’re probably thinking easy, just take all the playoff teams, right? Well, pretty much. Except there will be a certain team that came very close to making the playoffs a certain year that if they had made the playoffs, that squad would’ve made some big noise like the 1984 and 1998 teams. Speaking of those teams, I don’t want to give away too much to this countdown, but it will most likely look like those two squads as the top two Padres teams of all-time. But which will it be? You’ll have to wait. So let’s begin at No. 5

Mandatory Credit: ut-sandiego.com

#5: 2005, 2006: The Petco Era Begins

Now I’m combining both of these years because this is the last time the Padres have made the postseason. The 2005 Padres were coming off a great inaugural season at Petco Park in 2004. In 2004, the Padres finished 87-75 finishing 3^rd in the N.L. West after losing 98 games previously to close out the ‘Q’ in 2003. After the Padres got their feet wet in Petco, 2005 started off slow until the month of May, which set the tone for an easy N.L. West that season. The Padres won 22 games in the month of May, entering June at 33-19, without a doubt May, 2005 was one of the best months in Padres history. The Padres that year finished 82-80, which normally puts them in 3^rd of 4^th but luckily the rest of the N.L. West was pretty bad.

What made it worse was the Padres had no chance versus the Padre killers the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards swept the Padres in the Divisional Series and to make matters worse, star ace pitcher Jake Peavy injured his ribs during a post-season celebration at Petco Park before the series started.

In2006 the Padres tied the Los Angeles Dodgers for the N.L. West title but the Padres won outright because of their head-to-head series record vs L.A. In 2006, they had a better record and a playoff win, the last playoff win to this date. But again, ran into the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals at brand new Busch Stadium.

Mandatory Credit: cnn.com

#4 1989

So why would the 1989 team be ranked ahead of the 2005, 2006 teams who won back-to-back N.L. west titles? Those teams had a pretty easy division, mainly in 2005. The 1989 Padres had the talent to get the job done, but ultimately not everyone made the playoffs in those days, before the extra wild card slots was established. See only the Cubs and Giants made the playoffs in 1989 from the National League, the Padres finished 3^rd overall in the National League, one spot shy of getting in.

Only two teams made the playoffs from the National League. The list of talent on this team was great! Of course you have to start with the great Tony Gwynn, Benito Santiago, Roberto Alomar, Garry Templeton, Bip Roberts, John Kruk and Jack the Ripper (Jack Clark). As for the pitching, closer Mark Davis lead the team with 44 saves winning the third Cy Young Award in Padres history at the time. That season also had Bruce Hurst and Ed Whitson leading the staff in wins.

Unfortunately, the Padres fell three games behind the Giants and did not make the playoffs in 1989. During the ’89 campaign, Gwynn and Clark had a verbal sparring match that last for the remainder of that season and on into the 1990 season. Clark chose to leave San Diego and signed with the Boston Red Sox.

Mandatory Credit: houstonchronicle.com

#3 1996: Weekend At Chavez Ravine

Finishing in 1^st place in the N.L. West at 91-71, it all came down to the final weekend of the season vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers for the division crown at Chavez Ravine. They needed three games to win the N.L. West and were behind L.A. by three games. The year before in 1995, the Dodgers clinched the N.L. West at then-Jack Murphy Stadium, so it was only appropriate that the Padres return the favor.

The first night the Padres won in 10 innings 5-2 thanks to a Ken Caminiti double in left that drove in Steve Finley, and two batters later Chris Gomez drove in Caminiti and Wally Joyner to make it 5-2. Then on Saturday night tied 2-2 in the eight inning, it was Tony Gwynn hitting through the 5.5 hole and bringing in Jody Reed and Greg Vaughn. The Padres won 4-2 and the N.L. West came down to one Sunday afternoon. There was no score until the 11^th inning that Sunday, until Tony Gwynn’s brother, Chris Gwynn hit a double to deep center scoring Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley. That was all Trevor Hoffman needed as he got Dodgers’ hitter Chad Curtis on a called strike-three and the Padres had done the improbable, clinched the N.L. West on the final weekend.

Ultimately, you guessed it; the St. Louis Cardinals would set the tone for the Padres in the postseason, as it was the first of three series defeats in the postseason. Padres were swept but still had a miraculous season.

Mandatory Credit: youtube.com

#2 1998: A Season To Remember

The team that built what we know now as Petco Park, the 1998 Padres was one of the best teams in franchise history. Finishing at 98-64, fans knew going into that season that 1998 was going to be a special year. The Padres had five All-Stars that year including Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman, Andy Ashby, Kevin Brown and Greg Vaughn. Greg Vaughn that year was the Padres most powerful hitter in the lineup, hitting 50 home runs in a season and was voted Comeback Player of the Year and won a Silver Slugger Award, while Ken Caminiti finished second on the team in both home runs and RBI.

Closer Trevor Hoffman was voted the best closer in the bigs that year with 53 saves, and Andy Ashby lead the team in wins with 17. The Padres had already wrapped up the N.L. West by early September as they rallied down seven against the Dodgers in front of 60,000 fans, one of the largest crowds ever at Qualcomm Stadium for a baseball game.

Then came the N.L. Playoff,s facing the Houston Astros in the Division Series. Houston that year acquired Randy Johnson to help bolster their rotation. Game One of that series, the Padres had their solution with 16 strikeouts from Kevin Brown and the Padres won 2-1. The Padres won that series 3-1 and then beat the Atlanta Braves in six games to clinch the National League pennant. Unfortunately, the Padres ran into one of the best teams ever in baseball history, the 1998 New York Yankees. The Padres were swept 4-0, but still one heck of a year to be a Padres fan.

#1: 1984 Cub Busters

For years and years since the Padres joined the National League in 1969, they had some pretty bad teams, without as much as a sniff of success until 1984, when the team was owned by McDonald’s owner Ray Kroc, who saved the team from moving to Washington D.C. Kroc passed away before the season started in 1984, and the Padres dedicated the 1984 season to Kroc by wearing the initials “RAK” in honor of Mr. Kroc.

That year started off great beginning at 18-11, before losing seven games in a row. Not the most powerful hitting team with only two batters hitting 20 home runs and not one hitter with 100 RBI. The Padres finished 92-70, winning the National League West for the first time in franchise history with the additions of Graig Nettles and Rich Gossage.

The Padres were huge underdogs going into the NLCS vs. the Chicago Cubs, getting blown out of the Windy City the first two games, until the Padres rallied and won the series, three games-to-two in San Diego to clinch their first National League pennant in franchise history. The Padres would eventually lose to the Detriot Tigers in five games in the 1984 World Series and Game Two of that series is still the only win in Padres’ World Series history.

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