In 2020, the Padres finally returned to the playoffs, but I groaned upon seeing that the Padres would face the Cardinals once again. If you don't know, there's this 100% real thing called the San Diego Sports Curse (there's even a Wikipedia article about it!) that has caused my beloved hometown to become the largest city in the United States without a major sports championship. In addition to many other heartbreaks, I suspect that the SDSC is the primary reason why the Padres have been unable to beat the Cardinals in the playoffs.
Sure enough, my fears appeared to be justified at first- Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger injured themselves in their final starts and were left off the Wild Card series roster. I thought to myself, "Welp, here we go again-the Cardinals are gonna eliminate us from the playoffs. God, what did we do to deserve this? Is this just the way it is as a Padres fan?"
Unfortunately, my worries paled in comparison to what I saw from the Padres once the series had actually started. The shell of 2019 Chris Paddack immediately gave up four runs in the first inning of Game 1. While playing from behind the entire game, the Padres had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth, when Fernando "The Face of Baseball" Tatis Jr. came to bat with two runners on base. Of course, he struck out, and the Pads would never threaten again, losing 7-4.
Game 2 started much the same way. Zach Davies also gave up four runs early and didn't make it to the 3rd inning. Fast forward, again, to the bottom of the sixth with Tatis Jr. up to bat and two runners on. St. Louis was winning, 6-2. Fernando had struck out earlier in the game with the bases loaded, and it seemed as if the Cardinals pitching staff had successfully figured out how to neutralize him at the plate. "So this is it," I thought to myself, "I waited 14 years for us to get eliminated by the Cardinals again. Sisyphus would be proud..."
This time, though, something weird happened instead-Tatis Jr. homered to make the score 5-6. Then, Manny Machado hit another home run to tie the score.
My thoughts were racing: "WOW. What. Just. Happened???? Okay, I can't get too invested in this. Disappointment and San Diego sports are synonymous. Just wait."
The next inning, though, something EVEN weirder happened. Wil Myers homered to put the Padres ahead. I was ecstatic- and then Tatis came back to the plate and proceeded to hit his second home run of the night:
That. Bat. Flip. It's the most iconic postseason home run for the Padres since Steve Garvey in 1984. Moments like these are the ones you tell your kids about- and trust me, my kids (and their kids) will know I bore witness to this moment.
The Padres didn't look back. They held on to win that game, and the very next day, they won again to clinch their first postseason series victory since 1998. Dare I say it, but I almost feel as if the San Diego Sports Curse is beginning to fade. Perhaps the Chargers took it with them to LA? I can dream.
As a Padres fan, the 14-year gap between 2006 and 2020 was much like the game of baseball itself. Nothing happened for extended periods of time, and it was often incredibly dull to watch. Like a runner stranded on second, there were also many moments of false hope along the way- does anybody remember when Matt Kemp and James Shields were supposed to be the new faces of the franchise? How about Casey Kelly and Donovan Tate?
However, all it takes are a few big hits to change everything. They quite literally came in the form of back-to-back home runs from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado for the Padres.
I'm still in awe that I'm writing this and that we're still in the hunt for a championship. A part of me still doesn't believe it, but rooting for the Padres over the last 14 years has taught me one thing that I'm absolutely sure of: in both baseball and life, patience is a virtue, and faith is always rewarded.
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