Which MLB team is nicknamed the Friars?

The San Diego Padres are nicknamed the Friars.

The nickname reflects San Diego’s Spanish and Catholic history. Franciscan friars founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769, helping establish the settlement around which the city developed. “Padres” is Spanish for “fathers,” and the team’s identity draws directly on that missionary heritage rather than on a player, sponsor, or geographic feature.

The Padres began as a Pacific Coast League team in 1936 and entered Major League Baseball as an expansion franchise in 1969. Their mascot, the Swinging Friar, turns the nickname into a baseball character: a friar carrying or swinging a bat. That mascot is sometimes confused with the Famous Chicken, a San Diego sports personality who has appeared at Padres games but has never been the team’s official mascot.

The club plays in the National League West and has traditionally used brown and gold as its signature colors.