LOS ANGELES \u2014 Circumstances around the Padres evoked a 1996 vibe going into Wednesday night\u2019s game at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n
Near the visiting clubhouse, a worker stashed champagne and other carbonated beverages.<\/p>\n
If the Padres won and the Diamondbacks lost, San Diego would celebrate its fourth wild-card berth in five years.<\/p>\n
Though the Diamondbacks nixed that scenario, winning 5-3 against the Rockies in Denver, the bubbly cued up a useful reminder.<\/p>\n
Playoff berths are precious \u2014 more so when San Diego teams earn one.<\/p>\n
If earned in Los Angeles, well, that becomes memorable, too.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Padres are trying to accomplish the club\u2019s first playoff clincher in Dodger Stadium since 1996.<\/p>\n
Three decades ago this month, Bruce Bochy\u2019s first full-season team grabbed a 2-0 victory in 11 innings, bringing the thirsty club its first National League West title in 12 years and second overall.<\/p>\n
The Padres had clinched a wild-card berth earlier in the series.\u00a0But mouths watered over the prospect of winning the 162nd game to claim the divisional title.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very important to us,\u201d Chris Gwynn recalled Wednesday by phone.<\/p>\n
Gwynn lined a two-run double in the 11th inning, scoring Steve Finley and Ken Caminiti.<\/p>\n
Trevor Hoffman then struck out L.A.\u2019s Chad Curtis to touch off the celebration.<\/p>\n
![\"Padres](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-krasovic-0924-02.jpg\")
Padres manager Bruce Bochy is doused by teammates after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 to win the National League West Division Sunday, Sept. 29, 1996 in Los Angeles. Bochy was awarded the National League Managers of the Year award Friday, Nov. 8, 1996(AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes) ORG XMIT: NY182<\/p>\n
Finally, everyone could cut loose. The tiny clubhouse felt like it might float away.<\/p>\n
Tony Gwynn, thrilled by his younger brother\u2019s big hit, hopped around with more delight than I ever saw from him \u2014 and that includes his celebrations relating to two World Series trips and his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was so excited,\u201d Chris Gwynn, 61, said Wednesday from his home in Rancho Cucamonga. \u201cBullpen guys. Greg Vaughn. Cammy. Wally Joyner. We had a great group. Everybody was hugging me. It was such a great moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Gwynn\u2019s son Josh, 8, entered the crammed clubhouse, a Padres Hall of Famer welcomed him to the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cRickey Henderson was pouring champagne on his head \u2014 it was great,\u201d Gwynn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoAnn, my wife, made him ride home with me because he smelled like alcohol,\u201d Gwynn added, laughing the Gwynn family laugh.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-krasovic-0924-03.jpg\")
San Diego Padres team members, from left, Tony Gwynn, Brian Johnson, Greg Vaughn, and an unidentified player at right, point toward Chris Gwynn who had a two-run double by during the 11th inning of their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday, Sept. 29, 1996, in Los Angeles. Ken Caminiti also scored on the play. The Padres won the game 2-0. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n
In San Diego, where the Chargers never won a Super Bowl and the Padres have only one game victory to show for two World Series appearances, a playoff berth carries a long shelf life.<\/p>\n
Gwynn said Wednesday that while he still thinks back to 1996, it\u2019s far more frequent that someone in San Diego recounts seeing the double he drove to right-center field off a Chan Ho Park changeup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me feel old,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone will say, \u2018I was like 7 years old, and I remember you got that hit.\u2019 And now, they\u2019re like 40.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gwynn ticked off memories from the season-ending sweep\u2019s first two games: Caminiti\u2019s big home run in the opener, one of his longest of the season; and brother Tony\u2019s crucial single in the second game off lefty Mark Guthrie.<\/p>\n
For his own part, Gwynn said the double felt extra sweet because he\u2019d had a rough season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to mention, it was against the Dodgers,\u201d he said, noting that L.A. drafted him out of San Diego State in the first round.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat made me feel a little better, too. Because they were my parent team.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one remembers that, for the season, Gwynn batted .178 in 90 at-bats.<\/p>\n
The double lives on.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony told me later that, he just felt like I was going to be able do something (in the 162nd game), because it was a ballpark I\u2019m used to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the ball out of Chan Ho\u2019s hand, really,\u201d he said. \u201cUsually that doesn\u2019t happen at that ballpark. Because that time of day, you\u2019ve got shadows. For some reason, I saw it, I stayed there, I put a pretty good swing on it and the ball jumped off my bat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Padres players would welcome a similar opportunity.<\/p>\n
With four games to go, including Wednesday night\u2019s series finale in L.A., they stand to get several chances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Circumstances around the Padres evoked a 1996 vibe going into Wednesday night\u2019s game at Dodger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127,1696],"class_list":["post-473870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}