Jake Peavy #44 of the San Diego Padres delivers the pitch during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 11, 2007 (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
In 2020, the San Diego Padres adopted a hashtag that embodied their World Series winning ambitions, #TakeTheCake. Unfortunately for the team from this Pacific coastal city, there would be no (apologies to DNCE) "cake by the ocean," as the Padres were eliminated in the National League Divisional Series.
The Padres have won two NL pennants — in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both years. The Detroit Tigers beat them four games to one in '84, while the New York Yankees swept them 4-0 in '98.
Former Padres ace Jake Peavy, who was inducted into the club's hall of fame last year, is very high on his former team's postseason prospects.
"World Series or bust," Peavy responded, when asked what the Padres' postseason expectations should be, in an exclusive with RG.
"They're dangerous, and nobody wants [to play] them. Nobody wants [to face] Dylan Cease, Michael King, Joe Musgrove – throwing the ball the way he's been throwing it. We've seen Joe deliver in the postseason.
"So you talk about pairing some big-time starters with the best bullpen, the most dangerous bullpen in the game: Tanner Scott, Robert Suarez, and then Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam – just acquired from Tampa Bay. That's four studs, the closers I just mentioned. So you're talking about a very short game that you're playing with these starters."
Peavy, appearing on behalf of Broken Top Brands, won the 2007 pitching triple crown and the National League Cy Young award in San Diego, where he spent most of his professional career.
He currently works as an analyst for MLB Network. Naturally, the three-time MLB All-Star began his Padre praise by discussing pitching. Still, he quickly shifted to talking about "Slam Diego," the team's potent offense, including National League batting champion Luis Arraez.
"And then on the offensive side of the ball, Xander Bogaerts is now healthy, and he's now comfortable a year in the mix, he's been through the fire," Peavy continued. "Now he's comfortable living in San Diego, things have settled down, and he's starting to play. Manny Machado's Manny. Jackson Merrill's gonna be the Rookie of the Year- what a stud and late clutch performer.
"Jurickson Profar – what a steal! And what's wrong with baseball, Paul, that we don't value Jurickson Profar and that this All-Star guy can't even get a job?
"[Kansas City Royals star outfielder] Tommy Pham's been traded a couple times. Tommy can't get a job in the winter! What's wrong with our game and how we're valuing players that you miss this badly? Nobody wanted Jurickson Profar. Nobody wanted Tommy Pham on their roster. That's bizarre, so I love that we don't have it all figured out. We're all always searching."
The Padres (93-69) are the #4 seed (and top-ranked Wild Card) in the National League. They'll host the #5 seed Atlanta Braves in game one of their National League Division Series on Tuesday night, October 1st.
The "Friars" are the only Major League Baseball club which does not share its market with another franchise in the four major American professional sports leagues.
As such, they're the only game in town, and when they're winning, they draw very well at their home stadium, Petco Park. This season, they drew a franchise record 3,314,593 fans over the course of 80 games, selling out 56 of them.
This followed up on last year's incredibly strong attendance figure of 3,232,310. They are extremely fun-to-watch team, led by one of baseball's most colorful stars – the show-boating, bat-flipping, celebration machine that is right fielder Fernando Tatis.
"If Tatis can come back and be just somewhat of what he's been, then that team's really good," Peavy added. "They're a complete team with a really together staff and an owner Peter Seidler, who's no longer with us, who had his hand over [building] that team, and his biggest desire was to win a world championship and bring that to San Diego, and [further help] San Diego just be the world-class town that it could be.
"And a lot of that's happening, if you go to a ballgame in San Diego, it is electric! It is as good of a place to watch a ballgame, as fine of a ballpark, as there is in America right now.
"It will make you feel good about the state of Major League Baseball."
The past couple of decades have seen many franchises either win their first World Series or end their long championship drought. It all started in 2004, when the Boston Red Sox ended their dry spell, which had dated back to 1918.
The Chicago White Sox, with a drought dating back to the previous year of 1917, then put theirs to bed the very next year, in 2005. Across town, the Chicago Cubs ended the longest title drought in sports history (108 years) when they finally won in 2016.
The Houston Astros, who began playing in 1962, won their first title in 2017. The other team in the Lone Star State, the Texas Rangers, who began playing in 1961, won their first world championship just last year.
In 1969, the Padres (synonymous with their unique and utterly distinctive uniform color scheme since their inception) joined MLB as one of four new expansion teams. The rest of that expansion class included the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), Kansas City Royals, and Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers).
The Expos/Nationals won their first Fall Classic in 2019, their 50th year of existence. While the Royals got it done 16 years after their inception, the Brewers, just like the Friars, are still waiting to get their first title. If they advance past round one, the #1 seeded Los Angeles Dodgers will await them in round two.
These two clubs have seen their rivalry heat up in recent years. This October, the two sides could meet in the NLDS for the third time in five years. L.A. swept San Diego 3-0 in 2020 while the Padres knocked the Dodgers out in 2022, winning the series 3 games to 1.
"The Dodgers are really good, and when they get healthy and full strength, and they are, they're about to be very formidable. They've addressed their issues at the deadline, and made a complete team, not that many holes," Peavy said before then referencing one of his former managers, Bruce Bochy, who is certainly one of the greatest skippers that the game has ever seen.
Bochy led San Diego to the World Series in 1998, before guiding the San Francisco Giants to three World Series championships (2010, 2012, 2014) and the Rangers' World Series title last season.
"And if you're hot, and he sees it, and you're feeling good – let's go!
“And that means rolling the dice and being in some situations where the best are not afraid of that roll of the dice, and not just letting the analytics of the situation make the whole decision. There'll be some compromise in those decisions. I think that's a lot of what Boch's recipe for magic has been."
Is this the year the mission victory bells in San Diego finally ring on the season's final day?
Paul M. Banks is a professional Content Creator whose career has seen bylines in numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Yahoo, MSN, FOX Sports and Sports Illustrated.
Banks has made scores of guest appearances on live radio and television, featuring regularly on NTD News, WGN-TV, CCTV, ESPN Radio, the History Channel, SiriusXM and CBS Sports Radio.
He is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank.net, which has been featured and linked in hundreds of leading media outlets all across the world.
He has also authored two books, one of which, "No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in Sports Media," became an assigned textbook in journalism courses at State University New York-Oneonta.
