It took the Padres 16 seasons to get to their first World Series, where they lost four-games-to-one to the Tigers. Today is the anniversary of that one win, a feat they have yet to replicate in the 31 years since.
The Padres were already a game down in the series, and starter Ed Whitson dug them into an early hole in Game 2. He allowed three runs without getting out of the first inning; he was replaced by Andy Hawkins, who shut the Tigers out in his 5.1 innings of work. Most of the Padres' offense came by way of Kurt Bevacqua, who scored their second run in the fourth inning, then hit a go-ahead three-run blast in the next frame to bring the game to its final score of 5-3.