Top 5 San Diego Padres Teams Of All-Time

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#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.