The San Diego Padres are chasing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, but while manager Mike Shildt is barking like it’s a playoff series, Fernando Tatis Jr. seems to be approaching the showdown with a different kind of energy—maybe even exhaustion.
It’s the perfect snapshot of where the Padres are: a team caught between urgency and reality, hype and fatigue, spotlight and scrutiny.
Shildt Brings Fire, Tatis Brings Weariness
After getting ejected in Thursday’s 8-4 win over the San Francisco Giants, Shildt stormed into the Dodgers series with his chest out. He raged about replay reviews, barked at the league, and made it clear that he was itching for another shot at Los Angeles after being swept last weekend.
Tatis? Not so much.
“Well, I need to go to sleep first, been dragging,” Tatis told Padres reporter Marty Caswell. “Yeah, we’re just ready.”
It was a quote that raised eyebrows. For a fanbase desperate to see the Padres finally stand up to the Dodgers, Tatis’ tone sounded flat—even defeated. He admitted players and managers often live in different gears, joking that he’d like to see Shildt “running like that, too” before talking big.
On the surface, it’s a shrug. But underneath, it feels like a window into where Tatis really is right now: a star who has been grinding through the longest home run drought of his career, 109 plate appearances and counting without a ball leaving the yard. He can’t fake the adrenaline that his manager brings, not when his bat has gone silent.
And maybe, that’s the point.
Bigger Than the Dodgers
Tatis isn’t ducking the rivalry. He knows how much it matters. Historically, he’s performed well against the Dodgers and relishes those moments under the lights at Petco Park. But he’s also dealing with realities fans don’t always see.
Social media venom. Gambling-fueled threats. Constant noise that doesn’t just boo from the stands but follows him to his phone. “People wishing death to yourself and to your family,” Tatis admitted recently to The San Diego Tribune. “It’s pretty messed up. It’s not fun.”
Tatis is still an All-Star-level performer—even in his drought, he’s batting .267 with a 133 wRC+ since his last homer—but he’s also carrying more than most realize.
That’s the out-of-the-box truth about Padres-Dodgers this weekend: for the players, it isn’t just about flipping a switch to match their manager’s fire. It’s about finding a way to grind through the noise, the exhaustion, and the hate, while still performing against the best team in baseball.
For Shildt, the Dodgers series is war. For Tatis, it’s another day to survive and hopefully break out of his slump.
And maybe that’s not a bad thing. The Padres don’t need Tatis to beat his chest. They need him to find his swing, silence the trolls, and turn Petco Park into the stage where he finally ends his drought.
Because if that happens, it won’t matter how tired he sounds in a postgame scrum. It will matter that the Dodgers hear the crack of his bat again.
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