As the San Diego Union Tribune’s Jeff Sanders puts it today, “the Padres finally have a destination: The Big Apple or bust.”
Yes, San Diego’s major league baseball team is finally going to the post season playoffs for the first time in 16 years and only the 7th time in their 53-year history.
They must beat the New York Mets this weekend in a best of three series or their season will be a bust. Only twice have they made it to the World Series and were blown out both times, in 1984 and 1998.
And despite the jubilance among their fans about the team making it to the playoffs, the memories of last year’s late season tailspin and this team’s trouble scoring runs, fans could be worried about them being blown out early in the playoffs.
Yet for now, Padre fans will be hoping that this year will be different in a city of sports fans who have been frequently disappointed, with the Padres losing too much over the decades…and losing the Chargers who never won a Super Bowl over all their decades of calling San Diego home. And that’s in a city that twice has lost NBA teams that left town.
Could 2022 be the year when a major sports franchise in San Diego finally wins a championship? Don’t necessarily bet on it, but with the obstacles the Padres faced this year, don’t bet against it either.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images