SAN DIEGO _ Now that the Padres-Dodgers rivalry has perked up, it's time to dust off a piece of relevant history.
Decades ago it was the Dodgers, more so than any other opponent, who spurred the Padres to new heights.
The Padres overcame L.A. to win two National League West titles and a World Series berth between 1996 and 1998, while igniting public support that led to a new ballpark in downtown San Diego.
Back then, as holds true today, the Padres came to know that, to ever finish ahead of the Dodgers, they had to run a tight shop.
"They were always the big brother up north; for us, it was motivation to try to play good baseball," Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman said Friday.
New Padres leadership was fixated on the Dodgers, and overcoming them. Team owner John Moores painted Big Blue as a formidable but vulnerable rival. Larry Lucchino, the team's CEO, professed a strong disdain for the Dodgers that he said he acquired soon after moving from D.C. to La Jolla.
In 1995, the first year under Moores and Lucchino, the Padres improved but faded in September.
Moores approved a big payroll increase in 1996, serving notice. Padres players, said Hoffman, a 1993 trade acquisition of Randy Smith in the infamous Fire Sale, understood that the Dodgers had a longer contention cycle. If the Padres were going to break through, it had to happen soon.
"We aspired to be at their level, when we were capable of competing with them," Hoffman said. "We knew they were going to be more consistent over time with their ability to foot payroll and maintain payroll and bring in their star power.
"But," he said, "we knew when we got things right, we felt like our chemistry would get us over the top."
An easy claim is the 1996 season was the most exciting in Padres history.
The Padres started fast, then fell apart in June.
Manager Bruce Bochy, walking the streets of Chicago after a tough loss to the Cubs that month, mused that Lucchino would fire him before long. Bochy survived, and the Padres and Dodgers jockeyed down the stretch before losses to the Rockies in the 158th and 159th games at Jack Murphy Stadium seemed to relegate Bochy's club to a wild-card berth.
A three-game sweep, at Dodger Stadium, was needed to win the West. Hoffman's series line told the story: Save, save, save, securing the Padres' first West title since 1984. "Looking back," Hoffman said of that season, "it was awesome."
The '96 Padres were gritty and energetic. Also, they had a lot of talent.
Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson were first-ballot inductees into the Hall of Fame, where Hoffman would be inducted and where Bochy will end up.
Ken Caminiti was a unanimous NL MVP in 2016. The Hoffman-led bullpen led the league in ERA. Steve Finley played a tremendous center field, missed only one game and hit 45 doubles.
GM Kevin Towers' acquisitions included not only Henderson, who had a .410 on-base percentage at age 37, but slick first-baseman Wally Joyner and slugger Greg Vaughn, obtained at the trade deadline.
Trivia question: Who earned the victory that Hoffman nailed down in the finale?
Answer: Dario Veras, a skinny reliever who tossed three scoreless innings that day. Smith had drafted him out of the Dodgers' farm system.
The Cardinals swept them out of the 1996 playoffs, but the Padres, armed the next time with Kevin Brown, notched a franchise-record 98 wins two years later and reached the World Series.
Supporting his chemistry claim, Hoffman praised Towers and Bochy for teaming up to build up the Pads. "K.T was able to manage a roster and put everything together. The timing of everything, he had that expertise," said the reliever, who is a special assistant to GM A.J. Preller. "K.T. and Boch got along so well. Boch was exceptional. We were lucky to have those guys in place, to see our talent through."
This time around, Hoffman touts several Padres stars and the team's farm system, but he concedes the Dodgers, having won six consecutive West titles and the past two NL pennants, may be more formidable than in the mid-1990s.
Even so, the Hall of Fame pitcher said the Padres' lessons of decades ago still apply.
"You take care of the little things, big things will fall in place," he said. "It does look daunting, but anything's attainable. Instead of looking at the big picture and saying, 'How are we going get over a six-month haul?' the best way we were able to do it was, really, take it one game at a time, and then just really worry about ourselves." He added: "Anytime in baseball you start to look at the big picture, it can be a little daunting. So, what keeps you motivated, is to stay locked in in the moment."
Hoffman said he never harbored a strong dislike of the Dodgers, even while staring them down in the 1996 finale. He said he always has respected them. Watching the past two World Series, he found himself rooting for the Dodgers out of pride in the NL and the division, plus his friendship with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, a friend and former Padres teammate.
"You have a very firm, hard line about those rivalries when you're in the moment," he said, "but I don't harbor any ill will, and wish them to fall on their face when they're having that opportunity to win."
As for the American League's historic superpower, Hoffman isn't so sporting.
"Now," he said, laughing, "I'd never want to see the Yankees do well."
