Padres are hot right now, according to FanSided 250

The San Diego Padres ranked high on the annual FanSided 250 list, including second in MLB.

FanSided recently released their annual FanSided 250 list, and the San Diego Padres did well, gaining an overall ranking of 28th, including second among MLB teams.

The list is FanSided’s annual gauge of how “hot” that fandoms are, and San Diego, perhaps to the surprise of some, was only outranked by the Los Angeles Dodgers among MLB teams. Yes, that’s right, they even did better than the New York Yankees, who came in at #31. In terms of individual players, Fernando Tatis Jr. made the list as a sports figure at #181 overall including #31 among sports figures.

The Padres are a hot commodity due largely to the fact that they made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years in 2020 and also won a playoff series for the first time since 1998, knocking out the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card round. They recently had four players named as finalists for the All-MLB Team, including Tatis.

Yet it’s not just the fact that the Padres were winning this year. They were a ton of fun to watch, playing with swagger and confidence despite their relative inexperience with winning baseball. One highlight of the year was when Tatis hit his grand slam that angered the Texas Rangers, and the team would go on to hit a grand slam in four straight games.

The Padres also have a front office, led by AJ Preller, that has shown that they’re willing to be aggressive to build a winning team. They traded for Mike Clevinger during the season, among other moves, while keeping the vast majority of their highly-regarded farm system intact.

While the Padres didn’t get past the eventual World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers this year, there is a rivalry that is budding between the two teams, and given that the Padres are expected to add to their roster this offseason, hopefully, they will be right up there challenging the Dodgers in 2021.

When we consider all the talent currently on the Padres’ team, along with their strong farm system, it signals a bright future for the club. While some, again, may be surprised at this ranking, it shows not only that the Padres are hot right now but that they figure to continue to be so for a while. Let’s see if they can climb even higher next year!