SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Padres fans, long wired to protect themselves from seemingly inevitable heartbreak, are expressing optimism as a team that made the playoffs last season gets bolstered by a series of blockbuster trades.
According to MLB.com, the Pardres have an agreement with the Cubs to send Yu Darvish to San Diego, sources say.
“Just having the opportunity to think about padres baseball in 2021 as one of the perennial teams that everyone is looking at, it’s new territory for all of us," said Padres fan Andy Bolin. “It made me feel special again to have friends across the country saying hey man, those Padres are great. We’re having so much fun watching them. It’s nice to be able to brag for once," said fellow fan Mike Hernandez.
In 2020, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado each were among the top contenders for the MVP award and pitcher Dinelson Lamet was in the running for the CY Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League. While the team ultimately was eliminated in the playoffs by the eventual World Series champion, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres have become a popular pick by baseball experts as the top candidate to knock the Dodgers off their thrown.
And that was before the Padres reported acquisitions of ace pitchers Blake Snell and Yu Darvish.
"I really felt it was the best looking ball club that I’ve seen in my last 40 years, to be honest with you," Padres legend Randy Jones told ABC 10News about the 2020 team. Jones says he hopes the pandemic wanes enough for San Diego sports fans to return to the stadium at some point during the season. “It is fun to watch, and to see it in person down at Petco Park would be phenomenal for this fans. They’d just love it. They’d go nuts.”
