What Went Wrong: Stay Mediocre, San Diego

The San Diego Padres. Debuted in 1969, just a few years after the AFL's Chargers moved from LA to San Diego. Their debut came in the same year that Divisional Play began in MLB, and during baseball's original Divisional Play period (1969-1993), the Padres only won the NL West once--in 1984. That did result in their first pennant, but it would be another decade-plus before the Padres would play October baseball again. 1998 saw them in another World Series, and they had hopes for appearing in another one.

28 years have passed. They're still looking for another pennant.

This year's Padres struggled at first, but per usual, the team got back in the hunt and made it to the dance. They drew the Cubs again, but they dominated the Cubs this time; sweeping them in the Wild Card Series and holding them to just one run total. Then they faced the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series, and as we've seen, the Brewers tend to fool people into believing that this is their year.

Unfortunately, the Padres are bigger playoff frauds, and we saw it again in this series. We especially saw it in the first two games in Milwaukee. The Padres had leads in both games, and yet somehow they returned home down 2-0. While the Padres did win Game Three, Game Four saw the ultimate insult. The Padres trailed 3-1, and then Manny Machado hit what he thought was a two-run homer, but it was caught right before it went over the wall. San Diego would not recover the rest of the way, and as a result, the Padres ended up losing and their season was over.

Fernando Tatis, Jr. One of many second-generation baseball stars making his family name proud. He is clearly San Diego's top star, though he got off to a shaky start this season. His first home run of the season didn't come until May 30, ending a 55-game homerless drought. Despite this, Tatis Jr. somehow finished third on the team in home runs. How? With a drought that massive, five of his teammates should have been ahead of him. That, to me, is a depth problem. From what I've seen, Tatis has to produce in order for the Padres to have any chance. The man has no help.

You would think that Manny Machado would be a big help, but even he hasn't really been consistent. Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, and of course, Xander Bogaerts. None of them have been consistent, either, especially Bogaerts, who needs to retire. And the pitching has let them down as well. They definitely missed Joe Musgrove, who is still their best pitcher. The man pitched the team's only no-hitter in team history just a few years ago.

So that's that for the Padres. Their 58th season comes to a very disappointing end. 58 seasons and only two pennants. At least they're not the Mariners? And remember: they are San Diego's only hope in pro sports, because the Chargers have been out of San Diego for a decade now. It's now been four years since they reached the NLCS, 28 years since their last pennant, and of course, they are of five MLB teams without a World Series championship to call their own. The Padres have quite the offseason ahead of them, and it should be interesting to see what they pull off in those winter months. I'd like to think that they're about two pieces away from doing something, but I don't know. The Padres definitely need to do something, because they can't be the Dodgers' pets forever.