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The Warriors celebrate their 2015 NBA Championship. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
The Warriors celebrate their 2015 NBA Championship. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

Domination and Relocation: The Biggest Bay Area Sports Stories of 2015

Domination and Relocation: The Biggest Bay Area Sports Stories of 2015

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The Bay Area remained a hotbed of sports stories this year.

The Golden State Warriors brought yet another professional championship to the region, while there was plenty of chatter about other Bay Area teams moving away.

Warriors domination

The single-biggest story in sports this year was the emergence of the Golden State Warriors as the best basketball team on the planet.

In May, Stephen Curry was named league MVP after guiding his team to a league-best 67 wins. Then the Dubs rolled through the playoffs en route to the franchise’s first championship in 40 years.

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A parade through the streets of Oakland followed.

Then, when the new NBA season began in late October, the Warriors continued their dominance — setting new records for the best start ever by rolling off 24 straight victories to start the season.

Stay tuned for what should be an exciting 2016 for Curry and the Warriors.

Stadium Shuffle?

Plenty of ink was spilled this year about the future homes of Bay Area sports teams — and still, very little is settled.

An architect's rendering of the Golden State Warriors' proposed new arena on San Francisco's Mission Bay waterfront.
An architect's rendering of the Golden State Warriors' proposed new arena on San Francisco's Mission Bay waterfront. (MANICA Architecture)

Here's the short version:

One local team, the Niners, has settled into their brand-new stadium and are deep into preparations for Super Bowl 50 in February, while this year their old home, Candlestick Park, was demolished.

 Tale of two football teams: Niners implode, Raiders re-emerge

The 49ers struggled through a rough year while the Raiders look to be on the way back. (Getty Images, composite by Adam Grossberg)
The 49ers struggled through a rough year while the Raiders look to be on the way back. (Getty Images, composite by Adam Grossberg)

2015 was an interesting year for Bay Area football with the 49ers and Raiders heading in opposite directions.

The 49ers had their fair share of tumult, including a messy divorce with former head coach Jim Harbaugh, the unexpected retirement of several players and run-ins with the law by other players (Ray McDonald, Aldon Smith).

The start of the new season brought one positive story for the Niners: Australian import Jarryd Hayne.

That hopeful story eventually faded and the team struggled through its first losing season since 2010.

Things are a bit sunnier on the other side of the bay (at least on the field), as a nucleus of young players is making Raiders fans think their team is nearing a resurgence. Second-year players Derek Carr and Pro Bowl defender Khalil Mack have already led the team to as many wins this season as the last two seasons combined, with one regular-season game left.

Wherever the Raiders play next year, they will be relevant and fun to watch.

Collegiate resurgence

Part of the newly named Pac-12 Conference, two Bay Area college football programs enjoyed solid seasons.

Down in Palo Alto, the Stanford Cardinal finished the regular season ranked No. 6 in the nation. After winning the Pac-12 Conference, the Cardinal heads south to play in the Rose Bowl against the fifth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. Stanford is no stranger to the Rose Bowl. This will be the team's third appearance in the last four years.

Things were not so promising in September when the team lost its first game of the year to Northwestern. But led by one of the best players in the country, Christian McCaffrey, the Cardinal won 11 of their next 12 games to finish 11-2 overall. McCaffrey would go on to finish second for the Heisman Trophy earlier this month.

Could Bay Area native Jared Goff stay local and play for the 49ers? (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Could Bay Area native Jared Goff stay local and play for the 49ers? (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Up in Berkeley, junior quarterback Jared Goff led the Cal Bears to a 5-0 start, a top-20 ranking and talk of resurgence. In the process, Goff maintained his status as a top NFL prospect. He is expected to enter the draft a year early and is widely considered a potential first-round pick (possibly by the 49ers).

Although the second half of the season didn’t live up to the strong start, the Bears still finished 7-5, the team’s first winning season since 2011, and earned an invitation to a bowl game for the first time in four seasons.

There was baseball, too

Bay Area baseball was forgettable in 2015.

Chris Heston celebrates his no hitter with teammates against the New York Mets after their game at Citi Field on June 9, 2015 in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
Chris Heston celebrates his no-hitter with teammates against the New York Mets after their game at Citi Field on June 9, 2015, in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Being an odd-numbered year, the Giants did not win ANOTHER World Series. (But, at least the Dodgers didn’t win either.) One of the team’s highlights was an unexpected no-hitter by rookie Chris Heston in June.

The A’s took a big step back after a (mostly) promising 2014, trading away many of their core players. The team finished in the American League basement, with only 68 wins.

On the bright side, the franchise still gets to take credit for creating the wave.

Swimming in the Bay

Thanks to increased temperatures, swimming in San Francisco Bay wasn’t so frigid this year. KQED ventured out a couple times to capture the experience of swimming in the bay, one of the area's favorite pastimes. It might not be "Sports," but these people are definitely athletes.

What was your favorite sports story from 2015? Let us know in the comments.

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