While a sweep, that ‘98 WS was a lot closer than most remember. The Padres had the Yanks on the ropes in Games 1 & 3 but the bullpen let them down both times, including Hoffman in his only appearance. Yanks still may have won the series but SD wasn’t a pushover by any means.
It's possible my memory exaggerates the disparity between the two teams 27 years later, and I'm not disputing the competitiveness of the individual games, but I've always felt it was a fait accompli, and I remember feeling that at the time. I may not be giving the '98 Padres their proper due, but that shouldn't be taken as a dig at them, but more an acknowledgement of how great that Yankees team was. I don't recall a single moment of serious doubt that they would win that serious. Of course, I was also 19 years old and had a lot of other stuff on my mind, so it's also possible my baseball analysis skills from that period were not operating at peak performance levels.
🤣 nah, you're right. It was meant to be! Those Yankee teams were so deep, that's how they outlasted everyone. I remember an announcer back then saying something like "they find a way to win if they wait just long enough".
But the Pads had 3-run leads heading into the 7th inning in Games 1 & 3. I'm looking this up while I type bc I want to know - Bochy took Kevin Brown out in the 7th after 106 pitches. I think he gassed him in the NLCS - I remember Michael Tucker hitting a big homer off of Brown in *relief,* so I'm sure Bochy knew he was gambling bc his bullpen wasn't great. I would've rolled with Brown (even in hindsight). But that was the inning that Knoblauch hit the three-run homer to tie the game, then Martinez hit the grand slam right after. That was at Yankee Stadium. So ghosts and whatnot, you get it.
Game 3 was in SD, the Pads had just scored 3 in the bottom of the 6th, and then Brosius hit a homer to start the 7th off of Sterling Hitchcock. Bochy let Hitch face one more batter, who reached, then had to dip into the bullpen. By the 8th, it was 3-2 Pads and Hoffman was in the game after Randy Myers gave up a leadoff walk. Hoffman got Bernie Williams, walked Martinez, then Brosius hit the famous 3-run homer where his hands go in the air. It was the cover of SI and clinched him the WS MVP.
Both games, they had the lead, sent weary starters out to start the 7th, and the bullpen gave it all away by the end of the game!
I do think it's kinda funny that the WS MVP for the best team of my lifetime was Scott Brosius. Perfectly fine player, but I doubt many people called that in advance. Of course, World Series are weird like that, especially the shorter they are. All it takes is one big play to bring home the hardware sometimes.
While a sweep, that ‘98 WS was a lot closer than most remember. The Padres had the Yanks on the ropes in Games 1 & 3 but the bullpen let them down both times, including Hoffman in his only appearance. Yanks still may have won the series but SD wasn’t a pushover by any means.
It's possible my memory exaggerates the disparity between the two teams 27 years later, and I'm not disputing the competitiveness of the individual games, but I've always felt it was a fait accompli, and I remember feeling that at the time. I may not be giving the '98 Padres their proper due, but that shouldn't be taken as a dig at them, but more an acknowledgement of how great that Yankees team was. I don't recall a single moment of serious doubt that they would win that serious. Of course, I was also 19 years old and had a lot of other stuff on my mind, so it's also possible my baseball analysis skills from that period were not operating at peak performance levels.
🤣 nah, you're right. It was meant to be! Those Yankee teams were so deep, that's how they outlasted everyone. I remember an announcer back then saying something like "they find a way to win if they wait just long enough".
But the Pads had 3-run leads heading into the 7th inning in Games 1 & 3. I'm looking this up while I type bc I want to know - Bochy took Kevin Brown out in the 7th after 106 pitches. I think he gassed him in the NLCS - I remember Michael Tucker hitting a big homer off of Brown in *relief,* so I'm sure Bochy knew he was gambling bc his bullpen wasn't great. I would've rolled with Brown (even in hindsight). But that was the inning that Knoblauch hit the three-run homer to tie the game, then Martinez hit the grand slam right after. That was at Yankee Stadium. So ghosts and whatnot, you get it.
Game 3 was in SD, the Pads had just scored 3 in the bottom of the 6th, and then Brosius hit a homer to start the 7th off of Sterling Hitchcock. Bochy let Hitch face one more batter, who reached, then had to dip into the bullpen. By the 8th, it was 3-2 Pads and Hoffman was in the game after Randy Myers gave up a leadoff walk. Hoffman got Bernie Williams, walked Martinez, then Brosius hit the famous 3-run homer where his hands go in the air. It was the cover of SI and clinched him the WS MVP.
Both games, they had the lead, sent weary starters out to start the 7th, and the bullpen gave it all away by the end of the game!
I do think it's kinda funny that the WS MVP for the best team of my lifetime was Scott Brosius. Perfectly fine player, but I doubt many people called that in advance. Of course, World Series are weird like that, especially the shorter they are. All it takes is one big play to bring home the hardware sometimes.
Brosius was the quintessential “put on pinstripes, get better” players. He had basically a third of his career bWAR during the ‘98 season!!
That definitely tracks.