What is the common denominator of all of these teams? They are the last five World Series winners. I placed this year’s Padres team with them to show how they compare. What can we learn from these figures?

1. Teams that are consistent are successful. Streaky teams are flashy, but rarely make it deep in the playoffs, like the 2002 Oakland A’s, who won 20 games in a row at one point in the season (and 16 of 17 at another point), or the 2001 Seattle Mariners (who won 116 games that years on streaks of 15, 9, 8, and 7). Though the Mariners made it to the ALCS, both teams amazing regular seasons ended in a disappointing fashion. All the teams here have been remarkably consistent throughout the regular season, neither winning nor losing large batches of consecutive games.
2. The Cardinals demonstrated in 2006 that the players are much more important than the win-loss record, when they won the World Series with a record weaker (83-78) than any other championship team in history. David Eckstein of the Padres knows this more than anyone else. Before he went on to be the World Series MVP, he had to endure 9 home sweeps, two separate 8-game losing streaks, another 7-game losing streak and the complete skepticism of the entire league regarding his team’s chances in the postseason.

The Padres have the consistency these other teams have shown. They have depth and considerable talent in the four main aspects- pitching, hitting, baserunning and defense. The Padres have shown themselves to be playing on a level that only the past two NL-pennant winning teams the Padres fielded 12 and 26 years ago respectively have matched.

The Padres hit a rough patch, but that’s all it shall be. A bright September awaits us, the Friar Faithful!