Yankees gifting Dodgers first 2 World Series games make Padres hate 1998 even more

This is painful.

World Series - New York Yankees v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game 1
World Series - New York Yankees v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game 1 / Harry How/GettyImages

Older San Diego Padres fans likely remember the pain of the team's last World Series appearance quite well. The 1998 World Series was only the second time in which the Padres have participated in the Fall Classic, after taking down the perennially contending Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, the good times came to an end when the New York Yankees swept them in four games.

For a team that hasn't gotten the chance to hang a World Series banner, these are the sorts of opportunities that haunt fans forever. Getting so close to a title only to fall short on the biggest and final stage is almost worse than getting eliminated early in a lot of ways.

However, the Padres' failure in 1998 now feels even worse as not only are the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers facing off in the World Series this year, but the team that denied San Diego a title has fallen flat on their faces and handed the Padres' biggest rival a 2-0 series lead.

The Yankees all but handing the Dodgers the World Series feels uniquely bad for Padres fans

It shouldn't be all that surprising that the Dodgers have played well. The Padres saw first-hand what LA is capable of after losing their hard-fought NLDS against the Dodgers. As painful as it is to admit, the Dodgers are a good baseball team even if their manager manufactures drama and their fans showed their true colors during that series.

However, the Yankees sucking in the World Series has had as much or more to do with the results thus far as anything the Dodgers have done. New York ran out the ghost of Nestor Cortes in extras during Game 1, and were treated to a slow, painful collapse punctuated by Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam. In Game 2, the offense basically no-showed against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, while Yankees starter Carlos Rodon got hit hard yet again.

For Padres fans, one cannot help but wonder what this 2024 team could have done against the apparently hapless Yankees this year. They could have exorcised their World Series demons, especially if New York played like THIS against San Diego. Instead, we are being treated to the team responsible for one of the Padres' most painful playoff memories hand two World Series games to San Diego's fierce rivals.

That makes for some great content, but it's not to experience it in real-time.

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