In 1968 the San Diego Padres came to life, as the city was awarded a National League franchise during the owners meetings in Chicago, as expected the first five years of existence for the San Diego Padres are difficult in the won-loss column, but things gradually start to go around in 1974 as Ray Kroc the founder of McDonald's purchases the San Diego Padres in a move that prevents the team from relocating to Wahington D.C., from there the San Diego begin to build with Randy Jones of the San Diego Padres being their first true superstar as he is selected to the National League all-star team in 1975 and '76 and being voted the NL Cy Young award winner in 1976 as Randy Jones of the San Diego Padres wins 22 games.

In 1978 the San Diego Padres had their first winning season going 84-78 in the National League West before a sell out of all san diego padres tickets were sold as Hall of Famers P Rollie Fingers and OF Dave Winfield of the San Diego Padres lead the way and are NL all-stars.

It wouldnt be until 1984 that the San Diego Padres who had never finished higher than fourth in their 16-year history would earn their first playoff berth, and it would be a memorable one as they took on the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, led by newcomers 1B Steve Garvey, Closer Rich Gossage, and perennial all-star OF Tony Gwynn the San Diego Padres faced a Chicago Cubs team that won 96 games on the year and had NL Cy Young award winner Rick Sutcliffe who had a record of 16-1 on the mound for game 1.

It was a forgettable playoff debut for the San Diego Padres as they were demolished 13-0 and although their game 2 performance was a bit better the San Diego Padres still lost 4-2 and fell behind 2-0 in the best of five series and returned to San Diego knowing that no National League team had ever fallen behind 2-0 and recovered to win the series, but the San Diego Padres refused to quit winning the next two and forcing the 5th and deciding game, after falling behind 3-0 going into the bottom half of the sixth inning the San Diego Padres erupted for two runs and one more in the seventh to tie the score at 3, from there it was all San Diego as Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres and Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres (NLCS MVP) each had run scoring hits to put the San Diego Padres up 6-3 where Rich Gossage of the San Diego Padres shut down the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego were on their way to the World Series to face the Detroit Tigers who had won 104 games during the regular season and made a mockery of the American League Championship Series with the Kansas City Royals, as they won in three consecutive games.

In the 1984 World Series no San Diego Padres pitcher lasted longer than five innings and the Detroit Tigers did to the San Diego Padres what they had done to everyone in their path, simply crush them although their was disappointment for the San Diego Padres nobody could take away the NL pennant and the excitiement it brought to the city. It would be 12 long years before the San Diego Padres would once again participate in the postseason, in 1996 led by National League Most Valuable Player 3B Ken Caminiti the San Diego Padres won the NL West on the last day of the regular season and took on the St.Louis Cardinals in the NL Divisional Series, each game of the series was very close and could of gone either way but the St.Louis Cardinals made the big plays when it mattered most and swept the San Diego Padres out of the 1996 playoffs in three straight games. The 1998 edition of the San Diego Padres was the franchises best team ever winning 98 games on the season and boasted four all-stars.

In the playoffs they faced the Houston Astros in the Divisional round, the Houston Astros had won 102 games and had late season acquisition P Randy Johnson, but the San Diego Padres found a way to defeat Johnson twice in the series as P Kevin Brown of the San Diego Padres was awesome going 2-0 in the series as the San Diego Padres defeat the Houston Astros in four games.

The Atlanta Braves with their 106 wins awaited the San Diego Padres, but once again the San Diego Padres were up to the task as they defeated the Atlanta Braves four games to two, as Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock combined to win 3 games in the NLCS and power the San Diego Padres into the World Series against the New York Yankees who had a record of 114-48 on the year and were being regarded as one of the best teams ever assembled.

Immediately the New York Yankees showed why they were held in such high regard as they defeated the San Diego Padres 9-6, on the strength of a seven-run seventh inning capped by Tino Martinez of the New York Yankees belting a grand-slam home run, the reminder of the series was a runaway as the New York Yankees swept the San Diego Padres 4-0 in the 1998 World Series leaving no doubt to who was the best team.

San Dieagans and the Padres themselves had nothing to hang their head about, they had just concluded the greatest season in franchise history. The San Diego Padres have a few down years do to injuries and defections such as the retirement of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn and P Kevin Brown numerous ailments.

But in 2005 the San Diego Padres bounced back to win the NL West in somewhat of a surprsie behind P Jake Peavy, OF Brian Giles, and closer Trevor Hoffmann, but were easily beaten by the St.Louis Cardinals in the Playoffs in three straight, but the future appears bright for the San Diego Padres as C Mike Piazza now joins the team to bolster the batting lineup along with gold glove OF Mike Cameron.

Great moment in team history

Game 4 NLCS vs Chicago, Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres having already driven in three runs on the night comes to the plate in the bottom half of the ninth with the score tied at 5, with one on and the San Diego Padres down two games to one and facing possible elimination, ace closer Lee Smith of the Chicago Cubs fires a fastball and Steve Garvey of the San Diego anticipates it, blasting it to right-center where OF Henry Cotto of the Chicago Cubs leaps to no avail giving Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres game winning two-run home run and the San Diego Padres a dramatic win that forces a deciding game 5.