For what it's worth, SD won 98 games that year. This isn't like when the Indians had only 86 wins the previous year when they made the World Series. They took their foot off the gas after clinching the NL West on September 12 (went 4-9 the rest of the reg. season). They could have been a 100-win team ala HOU/ATL. The 1998 San Diego Padres are a criminally underrated pennant winner.
Wish we got this again, I hope Philly doesn’t kill us because this is my first deep playoff run in sports and it’s my own home team, I turned 18 this year and it would be a dream if we could win it all for the city
@@jeremypr Braves headed back to the World Series in 2023. The Dodgers and the rest of the chumps: Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, and the Padres go on early vacation.
Braves came so close to joining an exclusive club of a team that won 100+ games in a season and to also get swept in a postseason series, but they avoided getting swept. But the Braves in 1999 will join that exclusive club, as they will win 100+ games in 1999 and then got swept in the 1999 WOrld Series
I was 5 years old at Game 3 and always remember that collision at home plate and had been looking for it, so amazing to finally see it. Thank you so much for posting this.
I really love that Kevin Brown batted in the 9th inning, got on base, and scored the cushion run. (I do not use the term Insurance Run for religious purposes)
I remember watching them live at the Q for this 1998 NL title. The Q was alive sounded like thunder when you went to use the bathroom & heard the crowd. It was electrifying!
I really thought Atl was gonna make the 3-0 comeback, specially after dramatic wins in games 4 and 5 in SD and heading back home for 6 and possible 7, with Glavine going in 6 and Maddux in 7, and Kevin Brown being overused. BUT, the curse of Turner Field. Atlanta, really???? No runs in game 6? All that noise in games 4 and 5, just to look pathetic in game 6? Really? Getting shut out TWICE in this series? ANd both at home???!!!
I really loved The Murph. They tore it down a month ago, but watching it full for a Padres game is inspiring and soul stirring. We never needed all these new stadiums. The buckling of municipalities to sociopath demands is disgraceful. The last really good World Series may have been 2003, because 64,000 Floridians showed up when the Marlins made their run to their 2nd Championship. There have been other good matches, but nothing beats an overflowingly packed house making great noise.
They build and renovate baseball stadiums to entertain fans with anything other than baseball. Party decks and kid zones weren't needed in decades past now it is a shame that they are a must.
The problem with baseball teams playing in football stadiums is that people rarely go to see them play, because usually the location is in the middle of nowhere. Football can survive like that since they play once a week for 8-10 home games a year once a week, usually on Sundays. But not baseball with 80-90 home games per season on those Monday to Friday games at night when people have to get up early the next day. So while those stadiums do get loud and awesome when they are packed in postseason play, during the regular season when owners have to make money, they are mostly empty.
This series and the 96 World Series are probably the chokes that Bobby Cox's Braves are remembered for most. Hard to think the Braves weren't the more talented roster coming into the series and would have given the Yankees a much tougher series
@@chrisuncleahmad True, we also cant account for what might have happened if the Marlins had faced the Yankees either the year before or the year after instead
96, 97, 02, 03 (Atl chokes). I never considered 98 a choke, since SD won 98 games and could have won more had they not clinched division with two weeks left
Putting in Brown for relief work was really stupid. They treated game 5 like it was game 7 and were very lucky it didn't backfire in the final series result.
I think in spite of the playoff failures against the Jets and Patriots, LaDainian Tomlinson counts, especially during his MVP season when the Chargers went 14-2. Plus, that loss to the Patsies was against Tom Brady, the unscrupulous cheater, so it don't count
So the Padres in this 1998 postseason have now eliminated the 100+ wins Astros in the Division Series, and have eliminated the 100+ wins Braves in the NLCS. And now they face the 114 wins Yankees in the World Series. Lets see if Padres can make it three in a row.
It is so weird to be hearing names like Wally Joyner, Walt Weiss, Andres Galarraga, and Kevin Brown involved in this series. Respectively, that is an Angel, Athletic, Expo and Marlin, all involved in this series, a real good one spoiled by the Spankees and their roster of treasonous sorts.
"I said it before these playoff started. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best." More prophetic words never spoken by Tony Gwynn. Coming off the upset win over the Astros, Gwynn and the Padres now have to deal with the 106-win Braves and the dominiant pitching on their part. The Braves are looking for their fifth pennant of the decade whie the Friars aim for their first since 1984. And for the Padres, more incentive to do so. There's a ballot measure in November--Measure C--where if the voters pass it, the funding will be granted for construction of a brand new ballpark in downtown San Diego. The Padres aim to vote YES on Proposition 1--as in win Game 1 at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Padres led, 2-1, going into the 9th. But Trevor Hoffman failed to hold the lead. So it was tied at 2 in the 10th. With two outs, former NL MVP Ken Caminiti took Kerry Ligtenberg deep for a 3-2 Padres' lead, which would be preserved by Donne Wall in the bottom half. Having stolen one on the road, Kevin Brown took matters into his own hands, arms, and bat. His 5th inning single off Tom Glavine scored the Padres' first run, and the only run Brown would need, as the Braves' offense suffered a BROWN-out by Kevin, allowing only three hits and striking out 11 in a 3-0 CG shutout. San Diego was now heading home up 2 games to none. The scene shifted to Qualcomm Stadium for Game 3, where Greg Maddux took the hill for the Braves' opposite Sterling Hitchcock. Atlanta took a 1-0 lead, but LF John Vanderwall--in the lineup in place of the injured Greg Vaughn--threw a perfect strike to the plate to nail Walt Weiss in the third. Catcher Jim Leyritz was on a collision course with Weiss but held onto the ball. Buoyed by the defensive gem, the Padres scratched home four runs to win, 4-1, and shockingly take a three games to none lead on the favored Braves. It looks like the Padres' may get the new ballpark after all, especially since they only need one more win to knock off the 2nd 100-win team in as many rounds. Eyeing a sweep in Game 4, the fans got giddy. Jim Leyritz--again--went yard in the 6th to put the Padres ahead 3-2. Nine more outs, and the pennant is theirs. But the Braves' bats woke up. Javy Lopez tied the game with a home run in the 7th, then after the Braves scored a run to take the lead, the Big Cat belted a grand salami to win. 8-3. Then, in Game 5, the Padres led 4-2 going into the 8th. Bochy went for the kill, and brought in Kevin Brown in relief to seal the deal. But with one out, the Braves had two on for the #8 hitter, Michael Tucker. Tucker turned off the decibel levels 110% with a stunning three-run blast. Atlanta add two more runs, and held on to win the game, 7-6, with Maddux recording his first career save. The Braves also became the first team in playoff history to trail a series 3 games to none and force a Game 6. Now, the Padres' fans had to be nervous. The series was going back to Atlanta, and the Braves had Glavine on the mound while Hitchcock started for the Padres. But Hitchcock had the Braves' hitters going psycho with five shutout innings. Glavine matched him until the 6th, when the Friars scored five times. The key play came when two runs scored on a dropped fly ball. Three Padres' relievers picked up where Hitchcock--the NLCS MVP--left off and preserved the 5-0 win. With that, the Padres were in the World Series for the first time in 14 years. OH, DOCTOR!! After all, San Diego became just the second team ever to beat two 100-win clubs in the same postseason (the 1988 Dodgers being the other). "Not many people gave us a chance against Houston. Not many people gave us a chance against Atlanta. But here we are," says Gwynn during the pennant celebration. A major accomplishment, but if they are to win their first World Series title ever, they'll have to beat another 100-win team, and it'll be the ultimate one of all--the Yankees.
SD won 98 games that year. This isn't like when the Indians had only 86 wins the previous year when they made the World Series. They took their foot off the gas after clinching the NL West on September 12 (went 4-9 the rest of the reg. season). They could have easily been a 100-win team themselves. The 1998 San Diego Padres are a criminally underrated pennant winner.
i still remember the moment Finley caught the Michael Tucker fly ball i screamed and cried i finally got to see the Pads go to the World Series, only shame was my family moved to Australia and i couldnt go to any of the games
I still cant believe Hitchkok won the NLCS MVP in this series. He barely pitched any innings in both games he started. I would have given it to Hoffman
Hitchcock was a good choice. He shutdown the Braves in both games he pitched, and he came up huge in the crucial Game 6 to put the Padres in the World Series.
Hoffman had as many blown saves as he had saves (1 each) - plus he couldn't even finish Game 1 and almost blew it a second time before having to get bailed out. And his only save was in a 3-run game. Was a tough call for MVP but I think Hitchcock was the right choice. Hoffman didn't contribute much.
