MLB Playoffs 2024: Padres embracing spirit of Peter Seidler - ESPN

Every baseball fan base has its own identity. A Philadelphia Phillies crowd is intense. Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers are raucous (but late-arriving, fighting through the traffic bottlenecks). New York Yankees fans are anxious, emitting murmurs of distress between pitches.

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

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

Seidler deserved the credit for so much of it. After purchasing the team in 2012, he worked against the industry's conventional wisdom about what was possible for this franchise. The Padres, long defined as a small-market club that struggled to afford stars, are now a team loaded with big names, big talents and championship aspirations.

With a foundation of expensive veterans such as Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Yu Darvish and emerging talents such as Rookie of the Year candidate Jackson Merrill, the Padres have baseball's best record since the All-Star break, while playing with heart-shaped patches bearing Seidler's initials.

«Peter was the one who said, 'Hey, we're San Diego, we're putting 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