San Diego Padres


The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the National League West Division. The team plays its home games at Petco Park in downtown San Diego. Founded in 1969 as an expansion franchise, the Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team that arrived in San Diego in 1936. The name, Spanish for "fathers", honors the friars of the Franciscan order who founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769.
In 1976, Randy Jones achieved the first Cy Young Award for the Padres. In the 1980s, Tony Gwynn became a major star, winning eight National League batting titles. Under manager Dick Williams, the Padres clinched their first NL pennant, only to lose to the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 World Series in 5 games. In 1995, Kevin Towers became general manager; under his lead, Ken Caminiti became the first Padres player to win the MVP Award. The Padres achieved their second NL pennant alongside Trevor Hoffman, only to be swept by the New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series.
The Padres are owned by the estate of Peter Seidler, who owned the team from 2012 until his death in 2023. The team has won two NL pennants, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both years; they are tied with the Milwaukee Brewers as the oldest teams never to have won the World Series. As of the 2025 season, the Padres have had 19 winning seasons in franchise history. Despite reaching the postseason six times from 2005 to 2025, the team has yet to return to the World Series. From 1969 through 2025, the Padres have an overall record of .

History

The Padres adopted their name from the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, a team that arrived in San Diego in 1936. This minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by 18-year-old Ted Williams, the future Hall of Famer who was a native of San Diego.
In 1969, the Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new expansion teams, along with the Montreal Expos, the Kansas City Royals, and the Seattle Pilots.
One of its earliest owners was C. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres. Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi, as well as a new stadium, the team struggled; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the National League West, losing 100 games or more four times. One of the few bright spots on the team during the early years was first baseman and slugger Nate Colbert, an expansion draftee from the Houston Astros and was the long-time home run leader until 2024, when Manny Machado overtook him.
The team's fortunes gradually improved as they won five National League West titles and reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and in 1998, but lost both times. The Padres' main draw during the 1980s and 1990s was Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who won eight league batting titles. They moved into their current stadium, Petco Park, in 2004.
On August 20, 2020, the Padres became the first team in MLB history to hit a grand slam in four consecutive games earning the nickname, "Slam Diego Padres".
Until 2021, the Padres were the last team in MLB that had yet to throw a no-hitter. The record was broken on April 9, 2021, as Joe Musgrove accomplished the feat against the Texas Rangers, finally ending the longest no-hit drought by a team in MLB history. On September 5, 1997, Andy Ashby took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, which was previously the closest that the team had come to achieving this feat. In 2024, first year Padre Dylan Cease threw a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals on July 25.
On November 14, 2023, Peter Seidler, who owned the Padres since 2012, died at the age of 63. MLB owners approved of John Seidler as the Padres' control person on February 6, 2025.

Season records

Postseason history


Championships

The Padres are one of two teams in the National League West that have never won the World Series, though they have made and lost both appearances as the National League pennant winner in 1984 and 1998.

Achievements

Award winners & league leaders

Team record (single-season & career)

Baseball Hall of Famers

The following elected members of the Baseball Hall of Fame played or managed for the Padres.

Ford C. Frick Award recipients (broadcasters)

Retired numbers

The Padres have retired six numbers. The numbers are commemorated in a display at Petco Park's entrance at Home Plate Plaza. Fans are allowed to pose for pictures next to the aluminum numbers, which are high, wide, and deep. Originally, the numbers were atop the batter's eye in center field, until they were relocated in 2016. The numbers were not ready for display in time for the park's opening in 2004, but they were unveiled midseason. Also beginning in 2016, the numbers are displayed in the Ring of Honor on the upper deck façade above the press box behind home plate.
In 1988, Steve Garvey was the first player to have his number retired by the Padres. He played only five seasons with San Diego, but hit the game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the 1984 National League Championship Series, tying the series before the Padres won the next day. He was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player, and San Diego advanced to their first World Series. In 2016, The San Diego Union-Tribune ranked Garvey's Game 4 homer as the No. 1 moment in San Diego sports history. However, he played 14 of his 19 seasons with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, where he was also more productive, and the retirement of his number by San Diego has been heavily debated.
On April 15, 1997, exactly 50 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line, the No. 42 he wore with the Brooklyn Dodgers was retired throughout Major League Baseball. Later that year, Randy Jones's No. 35 was retired by the Padres. He was a two-time All-Star and the club's first Cy Young Award winner in 1976. On the day his number was retired, the Union-Tribune wrote that Jones was "the most popular athlete in the history of this city" during the mid-1970s. Dave Winfield was next to have his number, 31, retired in 2001, when he was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His retirement ceremony also celebrated his decision to be the first member of the Hall of Fame to have his plaque depicting him wearing a Padres cap. Winfield played for six teams in his 22-year career, spending his first eight seasons in San Diego. In 2004, the Padres retired No. 19 in honor of Gwynn, who is widely considered the greatest Padres player ever. He played his entire 20-year career with San Diego and won an NL-record eight batting titles. The most recent number to be retired was Trevor Hoffman's No. 51 in 2011. He had retired from playing after 2010, when he left the game as MLB's career leader in saves with 601, including 552 with the Padres.
Prior to moving to Petco, the team played at San Diego Stadium, where the retired numbers were originally displayed on banners hanging from the light towers above the left field stands. However, Garvey's number was commemorated instead on the wall behind the spot in right-center field where his winning home run in the 1984 NLCS cleared the fence, but the number disappeared when the stadium was expanded in 1997 and the location was masked by an overhang. It reappeared in 2002 when all the retired numbers were moved and inscribed on the outfield fence.
The Padres also have a "star on the wall" in honor of broadcaster Jerry Coleman, in reference to his trademark phrase "Oh Doctor! You can hang a star on that baby!" Nearby the initials of the late owner Ray Kroc are also displayed. Both the star and the initials are painted in gold on the front of the pressbox down the right-field line accompanied by the name of the person in white. Kroc was honored in 1984, Coleman in 2001.
On March 23, 2024, the team held a public memorial and celebration of life for team owner Peter Seidler, who died in November 2023. The club honored his memory with his initials of "PS" inside a gold heart next to Coleman's memorial on the front of the pressbox down the right-field line.

Padres Hall of Fame

The following 16 people have been inducted into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame since it was founded in 1999.

San Diego Hall of Champions

Gwynn, Winfield, Fingers, Gossage, Randy Jones, and Graig Nettles are members of the San Diego Hall of Champions, which is open to athletes native to the San Diego area as well as to those who played for San Diego teams.

Roster

Minor league affiliates

The San Diego Padres farm system consists of seven minor league affiliates.
ClassTeamLeagueLocationBallparkAffiliated
Triple-AEl Paso ChihuahuasPacific Coast LeagueEl Paso, TexasSouthwest University Park2014
Double-ASan Antonio MissionsTexas LeagueSan Antonio, TexasNelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium2021
High-AFort Wayne TinCapsMidwest LeagueFort Wayne, IndianaParkview Field1999
Single-ALake Elsinore StormCalifornia LeagueLake Elsinore, CaliforniaLake Elsinore Diamond2001
RookieACL PadresArizona Complex LeaguePeoria, ArizonaPeoria Sports Complex2021
RookieDSL Padres BrownDominican Summer LeagueBoca Chica, Santo DomingoSan Diego Padres Complex2023
RookieDSL Padres GoldDominican Summer LeagueBoca Chica, Santo DomingoSan Diego Padres Complex2023