Of course, the San Diego Padres had to misfortune of facing one of the best teams in the history of the sport, the 1998 New York Yankees. The Yankees swept the series, 9-6; 9-3; 5-4; 3-0. Since that beat down, the Padres have not even sniffed the ultimate goal of the season.
Appropriately, homegrown star Tony Gwynn led the team by batting .500/.529/.688/1.217 in the series. But the 1998 team largely consisted of players added through trades or free-agent signings with only a few other homegrown players like catcher Ben Davis and pitcher Joey Hamilton.