San Diego Padres at Petco Park
The San Diego Padres debuted in 1969 and have competed in the National League West ever since, winning the division five times. At Petco Park, where the Padres have played home games since 2004, fans can see bronze statues of memorable players Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman. The MLB All-Star Game has been played three times in San Diego: at San Diego Stadium in 1978, Jack Murphy Stadium in 1992 and Petco Park in 2016. Petco holds approximately 46,000 fans at capacity.
San Diego Padres History
The Padres' first postseason appearance came 15 years after the club's founding. San Diego lost the 1984 World Series 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers. The franchise would not make the playoffs again until 1996, getting swept in the NL Division Series by the St. Louis Cardinals. The Padres made it back to the World Series in 1998 but fell to the New York Yankees. They then made two postseason appearances in 2005 and '06, both ending in the NLDS.
The franchise's all-time winningest manager is Bruce Bochy, who is better known for winning three World Series while managing the San Francisco Giants from 2007 until retiring in 2019. Bochy registered a 951-975 record in San Diego from 1995 to 2006.
The late Tony Gwynn is arguably the most iconic Padre and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 29, 2008. Gwynn, who died from oral cancer in 2014, was nicknamed Mr. Padre for playing his entire MLB career with the club from 1982 to 2001. He is the franchise's all-time leader in career games played (2,440), RBI (1,138), hits (3,141) and other offensive categories. Gwynn and Hall of Fame pitcher Trevor Hoffman are the only former players with statues at Petco Park.
Dave Winfield began his career with the Padres from 1973 to 1980 before moving on to the New York Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians.
The Padres made modern baseball history by signing third baseman Manny Machado to a 10-year, $300 million, free-agent contract in February 2019, who helped lead the Padres to a Wild Card berth in 2020 & 2022, for their sixth and seventh postseason appearances in team history.