In 1972, in an odd arrangement, the club played as an affiliate of Triple-A Pacific Coast League Hawaii Islanders.
[3] The Padres claimed the Northwest League crown again in 1976,[4] defeating the fabled Portland Mavericks two games to one in the championship series.
[8] The new ownership group promptly moved the club west to Richland, rebranded them as the Tri-Cities Triplets, and signed a player development contract with the Texas Rangers.
The San Diego Padres shifted their NWL affiliate to Spokane, which had just lost its Triple-A team to Las Vegas.
Other future major leaguers included Joe McIntosh (1974–1975), Eric Show (1978), Ron Tingley (1977–1978), Bob Geren (1979–1980), Mark Parent (1979), Greg Booker (1981), John Kruk (1981), Jimmy Jones (1982), Gene Walter (1982) and Mitch Williams (1982).