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The history of the San Diego Balloon Animals is a long and tragic tale of a team traumatized by defeat, tantalized by the taste of revenge, and aching to bring justice to the teams that wronged them.

In the Hellmouth Cup, The Animals had an early strong showing, but knocked up against a stronger Tucson Butchers team in the postseason and were knocked out a couple of times. In the S6 postseason, the #1 seeded Animals swept the Baltimore Texas and Ft. Worth Piano Tuners , reaching the Hellmouth Cup for the first (and last) time. In the Hellmouth Cup series, they lost to the San Francisco Boat Shoes juggernaut, only winning 1 game out of 5. The Boat Shoes were making their third postseason appearance.

Despite a string of postseason appearances in S14, S16, and S18 ("even year magic"), the Animals were eliminated from the postseason each time, and sputtered into the final season of the Hellmouth Cup. The Animals tanked in Season 24, posting one of the worst single-season performances in Hellmouth Cup history. (See {{HellmouthRankList_SeasonAllTime}})

In the Toroidal Cup the Animals bounced back and had a nearly flawless postseason run in S1 of the Toroidal Cup. The Animals faced off against the Delaware Corporate Shells in the first-ever Toroidal CUp series. The Animals battled it out with the Shells for 7 games, but fizzled out in the final Game 7, blowing a chance at winning the franchise's first Cup series. After their S1 loss, the Animals lost their postseason confidence. In their 7 postseason appearances over the next 11 seasons, the Animals were eliminated 7 times.

The Animals finally got revenge with a Toroidal Cup series over the Delaware Corporate Shells in S14 of the Toroidal Cup. But in Toroidal/Season 19 and Toroidal/Season 22 the Animals fell to the Albuquerque Solarpunks in the Toroidal Cup series, leaving a pair of humiliating battle scars and leading to a new, bitter rivalry between the Balloon Animals and the Punks.

In S24 the Animals made it to the Toroidal Cup, but lost to one of the youngest franchises in the league, the Vegas Vampires .

The Rainbow Cup saw the Animals gain their revenge over the Punks, edging them out by just a few rainbows in the S15 Rainbow Cup series to capture first place. This was their only championship of the Rainbow Cup.

In the Klein Cup, the Animals consistently delivered disappointment to their fans as they failed to make a single appearance in a Cup Series over the course of 24 seasons. Tensions between the Animals and Punks, after the Punks switched from the Hot League to the Cold League, ran particularly high throughout the Klein Cup. Fans of the Balloon Animals became universally convinced the team was cursed.

In the Hellmouth II Cup, the Balloon Animals went another 23 seasons without winning a pennant. They finally reached their first Cup series in Hellmouth II/Season 24, only to lose to Fargo Flea Flickers in 6 games. The curse continued.