A few days back I blogged about the Padres' last games in first place and I totaled up the number of games they spent in first place for each season. From my tally they have spent 984 games total in first place out of their 7,166 regular season games since their first Opening Day in 1969. That's roughly 14%. In contrast the Padres have spent 2,439 games in last place in their division, which equates to 34% of the games.
The Padres have always been in the National League West since its creation in 1969. If I researched this properly the division had 6 teams in it from 1969-1992. For one year in 1993, they had 7 teams when the Colorado Rockies were welcomed into the league. Then in 1994 when the National League Central was born, the NL West shrunk to 4 teams. With the Arizona Diamondbacks coming on the scene in 1998 it grew to 5 teams where it remains today.
So with all that in mind I counted up all the games that the Padres spent in last place for each season for your consumption. Feast on it.
Games in Last Place
Year | Last Game in Last | Game Date | Number of Games in Last Place | Rank at End of Season | |
1969 | 162 | Oct-02 | 122 | 6 | Last |
1970 | 162 | Oct-01 | 140 | 6 | Last |
1971 | 161 | Sep-30 | 153 | 6 | Last |
1972 | 153 | Oct-04 | 94 | 6 | Last |
1973 | 162 | Oct-01 | 140 | 6 | Last |
1974 | 162 | Oct-02 | 157 | 6 | Last |
1975 | 4 | ||||
1976 | 5 | ||||
1977 | 26 | May-03 | 9 | 5 | |
1978 | 28 | May-11 | 3 | 4 | |
1979 | 11 | Apr-15 | 3 | 5 | |
1980 | 163 | Oct-05 | 89 | 6 | Last |
1981 | 110 | Oct-04 | 92 | 6 | Last |
1982 | 4 | ||||
1983 | 41 | May-25 | 1 | 4 | |
1984 | 1 | ||||
1985 | 3 | ||||
1986 | 157 | Sep-29 | 29 | 4 | |
1987 | 162 | Oct-04 | 157 | 6 | Last |
1988 | 51 | Jun-01 | 3 | 3 | |
1989 | 39 | May-14 | 2 | 2 | |
1990 | 4 | ||||
1991 | 3 | ||||
1992 | 3 | ||||
1993 | 162 | Oct-03 | 21 | 7 | Last |
1994 | 117 | Aug-11 | 115 | 4 | Last |
1995 | 125 | Sep-11 | 41 | 3 | |
1996 | 73 | Jun-20 | 2 | 1 | |
1997 | 162 | Sep-28 | 118 | 4 | Last |
1998 | 1 | ||||
1999 | 131 | Aug-29 | 58 | 4 | |
2000 | 162 | Oct-01 | 137 | 5 | Last |
2001 | 85 | Jul-05 | 51 | 4 | |
2002 | 162 | Sep-29 | 119 | 5 | Last |
2003 | 162 | Sep-28 | 140 | 5 | Last |
2004 | 3 | Apr-07 | 1 | 3 | |
2005 | 1 | ||||
2006 | 45 | May-22 | 20 | 1 | |
2007 | 3 | ||||
2008 | 162 | Sep-28 | 113 | 5 | Last |
2009 | 137 | Sep-05 | 54 | 4 | |
2010 | 10 | Apr-16 | 3 | 2 | |
2011 | 162 | Sep-28 | 128 | 5 | Last |
2012 | 88 | Jul-13 | 76 | 4 | |
2013 | 136 | Sep-01 | 48 | 3 |