The San Diego Padres failed to make a postseason appearance in 2023 but saw one of their former managers accomplish some personal history earlier this week.
Old Friars skipper Bruce Bochy led his new team to the World Series making this the third different franchise to win a pennant under his watch.
Bochy first led San Diego to the World Series during the 1998 season thanks to contributions from Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman and Kevin Brown among other key pieces.
After his time in San Diego, the Padres controversially let Bochy go to the Giants where he assumed the managerial role for 12 seasons.
Friar fans watched Bochy become a championship manager within their division after he spearheaded one of the best dynasties baseball has ever seen.
Three championships in five years marked the highlight of Bochy's tenure with the Giants after he won it all in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Bochy's core of Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Brandons Crawford and Belt as well as countless other pieces helped the Giants win their first championships since the 1950s.
The Giants' manager retired in 2019 after some down seasons to end his tenure but later came back to the sport with the Texas Rangers this season.
Though the Rangers lost the AL West on the final day of the regular season, Texas went undefeated on the road in their first two rounds of the 2023 postseason.
This set up a grudge match between the Rangers and the division champion Astros for a thrilling seven game series.
Despite losing all three home games in the series, the Rangers rallied back to win the final two road games of the set to eliminate the Astros and send the team to their first Fall Classic since 2011.
Bochy's achievements have plenty of Padre fans thinking about what could've been and he isn't the only former team manager who's now gone to bigger and better things.
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