Best duos in San Diego Padres history

In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.

While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.

The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in San Diego Padres history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.

#10. 2021 San Diego Padres
- Fernando Tatis Jr.: 6.6 WAR (#6 position player in 2021)
- Joe Musgrove: 3.6 WAR (#29 pitcher in 2021)
- Total: 10.2 WAR

#9. 1975 San Diego Padres
- Dave Winfield: 2.8 WAR (#79 position player in 1975)
- Randy Jones: 7.5 WAR (#6 pitcher in 1975)
- Total: 10.3 WAR

#8. 1987 San Diego Padres
- Tony Gwynn: 8.6 WAR (#1 position player in 1987)
- Eric Show: 1.8 WAR (#89 pitcher in 1987)
- Total: 10.4 WAR

#7. 2004 San Diego Padres
- Mark Loretta: 6 WAR (#13 position player in 2004)
- Jake Peavy: 4.9 WAR (#16 pitcher in 2004)
- Total: 10.9 WAR

#6. 1989 San Diego Padres
- Roberto Alomar: 4.5 WAR (#25 position player in 1989)
- Bruce Hurst: 6.5 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1989)
- Total: 11 WAR

#5. 1971 San Diego Padres
- Nate Colbert: 3.7 WAR (#47 position player in 1971)
- Dave Roberts: 7.5 WAR (#6 pitcher in 1971)
- Total: 11.2 WAR

#4. 1996 San Diego Padres
- Ken Caminiti: 7.6 WAR (#7 position player in 1996)
- Trevor Hoffman: 3.8 WAR (#27 pitcher in 1996)
- Total: 11.4 WAR

#3. 1979 San Diego Padres
- Dave Winfield: 8.3 WAR (#3 position player in 1979)
- Gaylord Perry: 3.2 WAR (#43 pitcher in 1979)
- Total: 11.5 WAR

#2. 1990 San Diego Padres
- Bip Roberts: 5.8 WAR (#10 position player in 1990)
- Ed Whitson: 7 WAR (#3 pitcher in 1990)
- Total: 12.8 WAR

#1. 1998 San Diego Padres
- Greg Vaughn: 6.3 WAR (#20 position player in 1998)
- Kevin Brown: 8.6 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1998)
- Total: 14.9 WAR