MLB Playoffs 2024: Padres welcome the spirit of Peter Seidler

Each baseball fan base has its own identity. The Philadelphia Phillies crowd is intense. The Los Angeles Dodgers fans are loud (but they arrive late and fight through the traffic bottlenecks). New York Yankees fans are worried and murmuring in desperation between the fields.

In San Diego, “every game is like a party,” as Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

That was late owner Peter Seidler's vision for this team, and it will manifest itself today in Game 3 of San Diego's division series against the Dodgers. Seidler died in November at age 63 (the cause of Seidler's death, a two-time cancer survivor, was not disclosed). But if he had been present today, you probably would have found him behind home plate in the hour before first pitch, chatting amiably and taking in all the sights and sounds, watching the assembled fans clamoring in their Padres -colors and their enthusiasm. the atmosphere clear.

Seidler deserves credit for so much of this. After purchasing the team in 2012, he worked against conventional industry opinion about what was possible for this franchise. Long considered a small club that struggled to afford stars, the Padres are now a team full of big names, big talent and championship aspirations.

With a foundation of expensive veterans like Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Yu Darvish and emerging talent like Rookie of the Year candidate Jackson Merrill, the Padres have baseball's best record since the All-Star break while also playing Heart-shaped badge Seidler's initials.

“Peter was the one who said, 'Hey, we're San Diego, we're going to put this city back on the map, I'm going to create this atmosphere,'” said Eric Hosmer, who played five seasons with the Padres.

Tony Gwynn Jr., the son of late Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn and an analyst on the team's radio network, said, “People enjoy coming to Petco Park now because it's almost a social event.”

Baseball in San Diego didn't always feel like this. In 1993, about midway through Gwynn Sr.'s Hall of Fame career, the Padres drew just 1.3 million fans, in a season in which the team's then-owner ordered the firing of stars like Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff ordered. On some days, Jack Murphy Stadium – the Padres' home stadium at the time – was so empty that birds and other wildlife preyed on leftover concession food – while the game, and not after. There were only a few people there to interrupt.

Controversy continued after Petco Park opened in 2004, but interest continued to lag. From 2008 to 2015, San Diego ranked at best 10th in the National League in attendance. A few years ago, Seidler stood behind home plate at Petco Park and spoke to a guest reporter about how to improve the baseball experience in San Diego. He had grown up around the sport: his mother's father was Walter O'Malley, the owner had moved the Dodgers franchise from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in hopes of more business, and the team was near or at the Dodger's capacity Stadium has operated for most decades since then. Seidler grew up around baseball and knew how a community can connect with a team. He was determined to find his way to the same level of excitement in San Diego.

In 2018, the Padres' payroll was $94 million, with the franchise in the familiar neighborhood of smaller teams. But in spring training the next year, the Padres shocked the baseball world by agreeing to a $300 million deal with Machado – a massive contract that was completely out of character for the way the franchise had conducted business for decades. The perception in the industry at the time was that this deal, along with the $144 million contract Hosmer signed last winter, would put the Padres in an unsustainable financial position.

Even Gwynn Jr., who has seen really good Padres teams deconstructed in the past because of payroll concerns, admitted he was initially skeptical that the franchise would continue down this path.

But Seidler continued to urge San Diego general manager AJ Preller to think big and pursue even the most expensive players. The Padres took a salary to acquire Darvish; they traded for Joe Musgrove. In the summer of 2022, Preller moved to Juan Soto, the best young star in the game, and plunged into free agency again the following offseason.

The Padres tried to sign shortstop Trea Turner by offering him a record sum for a player at the position, and when Turner signed with the Phillies, Seidler and Preller met with Aaron Judge and put the concept of a deal in his head , which would have been worth something in the region of $400 million. When Judge re-signed with the Yankees, the Padres traded for Bogaerts, signing him for $280 million – far more than what the Red Sox were willing to pay.

The Padres' payroll increased to $248 million in 2023. The team's spending spree has drawn a lot of commentary from other organizations – much of it negative, and rival executives have expressed shock at the amount of long-term debt San Diego has taken on in all of these offers. When asked about it in the spring of 2022, Seidler smiled slightly – knowingly – and said, “We'll be fine.” He gave no details about how the Padres would get there or what new revenue streams might emerge to pay for the massive commitments. Rival executives assumed that Seidler had bet, in part, that the value of the Padres franchise would grow over time in a way that would cover costs.

And in fact, the Padres have been in the top four in the Netherlands every year since 2021. That year, they averaged more than 41,000 fans per game – more than any other baseball team outside of the Dodgers and Phillies. In the first season after Seidler's death, the Padres reduced their payroll and sent Soto to the Yankees in a blockbuster offseason trade, but Preller and CEO Erik Greupner continued to fuel fan expectations that the team would work toward winning .

In March, Preller traded prospects for Dylan Cease, the best starting player available at the time, and then Preller made the first big deal of the season, acquiring Luis Arraez in early May. San Diego added more at the trade deadline, including backups Tanner Scott and Jason Adam. With these bold, roster-strengthening moves, the team rebounded from a mediocre start and late clinched the NL West title before securing the NL's top wild-card spot. They defeated the Atlanta Braves in the first round and split the first two games of the division series in LA. Now the Padres come home with a chance to defeat their biggest rivals in front of rocking Petco Park, just as their owner would have sought.

“I would say San Diegans are really happy with where we are,” Gwynn Jr. said, “versus what they’ve seen before.”