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NL, Padres:
Interesting that this years NL Final Four featured two of the most storied franchises in NL history, rich with tradition and postseason successes in the Cardinals and Dodgers, the Mets whom while lacking in total postseason apperances have made up with many, many classic moments, games, and series through the years, and the San Diego Padres, whom have a grand total of 5 postseason apperances now, and only two NL Championships in their 27 years of existance.
We begin in 1984. If you want to believe MFY suck-up Peter Golenbock, (in a special afterward found in paperback versions of Nettles' auto [u:eea4aadae8]Balls[/u:eea4aadae8]) the Padres won the 1984 NL Championship the day the Yankees traded Graig Nettles for Dennis Rassmussen. Not sure if I want to give Puff all the credit, as the Padres did have a strong nucelus that included Steve Garvey, Garry Templeton and some guy in the outfield named Gwynn. Along with a staff of LaMarr Hoyt, Andy Hawkins, Craig Lefferts and Dave Dravecky with the great Rich Gossage in the back of the pen, and not to mention a manager who should be in the Hall, Dick Williams.
In any event, the Pads, despite internal strife that would brim to the surface in later years, known as "The Birchers vs The Bingers" (See Gossage's auto [u:eea4aadae8]The Goose Is Loose[/u:eea4aadae8] for some great stories of this team) would run away with the West and face the Cubbies in the NLCS. They would beat the Cubs in an infamous series, winning in a dramatic Game 5 thanks to Leon Durham's infamous 7th inning error.
The World Series though, was all Detroit Tigers. A 5 game mauling that would see Kirk Gibson hitting a big homer against Rich Gossage in Game 5, sealing the championship for Detroit.
The Padres would fall into some lean years in next 11 years, untill Kevin Towers and Bruce Bochy came onboard in the mid-1990's. Things would hit a high point in 1996, when the Padres outlasted the Dodgers in a classic Down-To-Final-Weekend pennant race, though the "fun" was taken out of the equation due to the fact that the 2nd place winner would still make the postseason anyway as the Wild Card winner. The Padres finished the year one game ahead, so they ended up with their 2nd NL West Divisional crown. Then they got punked out in 3 games to the Cardinals in the Division Series.
Bouncing back from a 4th place finish in 1997, the Padres, now led by Kevin Brown and "Modern Muscle" bound sluggers Ken Caminiti and Greg Vaughn, the Padres won another race going away. This time they steamrolled their NLDS opponent, the Houston Astros, in 4 games, and despite losing games 4 and 5, held on to vanquish the Braves in 6 games in the NLCS. They were then punked out in 4 games by the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Interesting to note that Tony Gwynn was still around as a player in 1998, also Bruce Bochy and Tim Flannery were players in 1984 and manager and coach respectivly on the 1998 team.
After the World Series the Padres went for yet another fire sale, the Padres would not sniff respectability again untill their 87 win season in 2004 that was good for a third place finish.
In 2005, they would win the West with one of the worst records for any Divisional Champion in a non-work stoppage season. This team however, was no 1973 Mets, or 1987 Twins as they got punked out of the NLDS by the Cardinals in 3 straight. 2006 showed a better overall record with 88 wins and the Cardinals with 83 wins do have one of the worst records for any Divisional Champion in a non-work stoppage season. But the Pads still lost, this time it took 4 games for the Cardinals.
Stay tuned for the AL Teams...
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