The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in San Diego, California, competing in the National League West Division and playing their home games at Petco Park since 2004. Founded in 1969 as an expansion franchise, the team is named after the Spanish word for "fathers," honoring the Franciscan friars who established Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769. The Padres have won two National League pennants—in 1984 and 1998—losing the World Series to the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees respectively, making them tied with the Milwaukee Brewers as the oldest MLB teams never to have won a championship. The franchise's golden era was defined by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who won eight NL batting titles in the 1980s and 1990s, with other stars like Randy Jones (1976 Cy Young Award) and Ken Caminiti (1996 MVP) achieving individual honors. The team has claimed several unique milestones, including becoming the first MLB team to hit a grand slam in four consecutive games in 2020 (earning the nickname "Slam Diego"), and breaking their long no-hitter drought when Joe Musgrove threw the franchise's first no-hitter on April 9, 2021. Currently owned by José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, the Padres have appeared in the postseason six times from 2005 to 2025 but have yet to return to the World Series, maintaining an overall record of 4,217–4,789–2 (.468) through 2025.