For a few years now, the San Diego Padres have played for two championships: the quest for the World Series and the one that beating the Los Angeles Dodgers implies.
Yes, the obsession has been that significant.
Historically, there is no question that the Dodgers have won way more than the Padres, but lately, the Padres started to seriously compete and a modern rivalry was born.
The problem for them is that the Dodgers got even more competitive, too, and thus very hard to beat.
In 2020, for example, Los Angeles swept San Diego in the Division Series en route to a championship.
In 2021, LA won the head-to-head matchup, 12-7, and took Max Scherzer out of the Padres’ hands in the last minute near the trade deadline.
The Padres didn’t make the playoffs.
In 2022, LA won the head-to-head series with a whopping 14-5 record, and took the division by 22 games.
However, the Padres finally had something to celebrate after they beat the Dodgers in the Division Series.
An Extremely Funny Banner
Photojournalist Paul Sanchez shared a hilarious meme via Twitter to mock the Padres being eliminated from playoff contention by the Philadelphia Phillies in the Championship Series.
“Fitting. Hang the banner, @Padres fans!”, he said, with an extremely funny picture.
Fitting. Hang the banner, @Padres fans! pic.twitter.com/AVqw252FAZ
— Paul Sanchez (@PhotogSanchez) October 23, 2022
“At least we beat the Dodgers”, the fake banner says, and that has been pretty much all Padres fans have said since Sunday afternoon when they were eliminated by the Phillies.
They did beat the Dodgers, and it’s a start.
The franchise is yet to win its first World Series, though.
Even with that being the case, San Diego made its case as a truly competitive franchise worth keeping an eye on.
No one can take that away from them.
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