Padres Take Best One-Run Record Into The Playoffs.

The San Diego Padres ended their regular season with an 82-80 record by winning against the hapless Los Angeles Dodgers. The Pads enter the post-season with the worst record for a playoff team in baseball history. Their record is considerably worse than their playoff opponents' records as well.

But one thing the Padres have going for them as the playoffs begin is that they have played through extreme adversity this year and have never folded as a team. They may lack power and speed and clutch hitting and they may not be managed intelligently all the time but they have a strong pitching staff that keeps the team in every game. And as a team, they never give up.

This has translated into the best record in one-run games of all the playoff teams. St. Louis, the Pads' first opponent in the playoffs, surprisingly, has the worst record in one-run games of the playoff teams. And it's a losing record at that. On the other hand, St. Louis has an incredibly successful record in games where the run difference is more than one. And every other team in the playoffs except for the Pads has a winning record in non-one run games.

Overall W L L10
Atlanta 90 72 4-6
St. Louis 100 62 5-5
Houston 89 73 6-4
San Diego 82 80 6-4

One-Run W L
San Diego 29-20
Houston 25-21
Atlanta 23-20
St. Louis 21-25

Others W L
St. Louis 79-27
Atlanta 67-52
Houston 64-52
San Diego 53-60

What difference does any of this make? Well, it shows that the other teams have more offense than the Pads do. It also illustrates that for the Pads to succeed in the playoffs their pitching staff has to keep them in the game. They just don't have the bats to blow away their opponents.

So.

Go Peavy! Go Pedro! Go Eaton! Go Hoffman! Go Linebrink! Go Aki! And the rest! Go!

-tdr