This week, The Athletic is highlighting some of the best one-hit wonders in sports history. These stories are among the oddest and most inspiring in sports: the no-name pitcher who was lights out in the postseason, the wide receiver who catalyzed a Super Bowl comeback with an unreal catch, the boxer who upset a world-beater to win the belt. They are stories of Davids briefly conquering sports dominated by Goliaths. Their careers usually revert to obscurity, but their legends endure.



But what about a team that won a championship in their first season of competition — then ceased operations just days after lifting the trophy?



The San Francisco Deltas launched in 2015, set to begin play in the North American Soccer League in 2017. It gave the NASL (then United States men’s soccer’s second division) a team in California, and another major city among its ranks. What ensued was as turbulent and triumphant a season as any soccer club could...