San Diego Padres Star Threatens Los Angeles Dodgers After Stunning Confrontation

The series finale last night Thursday June 19, 2025 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres dissolved into utter chaos, with the two teams nearly coming to blows. 

Leading up to the confrontation in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers and Padres had hit one another with six pitches in the series to that point. 

With one out in the top of the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium, rookie Dodger reliever Jack Little, who was making his MLB debut, hit Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. with a fastball on the hand. 

Padres manager Mike Shildt rushed out of the dugout to check on Tatis, but ended up yelling at Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in defense of Tatis. 

Roberts came out of the dugout and got into a bit of a skirmish with Shildt, causing the benches and bullpens to empty.

The Dodgers have hit Tatis six times in his career, with five of those coming in the past two seasons and three of those times occurring in the past nine days. Now, the Padres fear Tatis has a serious hand injury that will keep him out for multiple games. 

Shildt is sick of Dodgers players hitting his superstar outfielder, and he let the media know that after the game. 

“After a while, enough’s enough,” Shildt said. “Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is I took exception with it.”

But Padres star 3B Manny Machado took things even further. He vaguely threatened the Dodgers for hitting Tatis, saying they “should pray” that Tatis is okay. 

“[The Dodgers] need to set a little candle up for Tatis tomorrow, and hope that everything comes back negative,” Machado said.

It’s unclear exactly in what capacity Machado plans to make the Dodgers play, but it certainly added intrigue to future matchups between the two teams. 

Ohtani Was Also Hit Later in the Game 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, it seemed the benches were about to clear once again after Padres closer Robert Suarez plunked Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani in the shoulder with a pitch. 

But instead, Ohtani calmly waved off his Dodgers teammates and they remained in the dugout. 

The umpires believed Suarez’s pitch was intentional and retaliatory, so they ejected him from the game. 

Dodgers and Padres’ Recent Playoff History 

The Dodgers and Padres rivalry has added intrigue because of their recent playoff history against one another. 

Each of the last three times the Padres have made the playoffs, in 2020, 2022, and 2024, they have been matched up against the Dodgers in the National League Division Series each time. 

In 2020, they were swept by the Dodgers 3-0 in the NLDS. They got the ultimate revenge in 2022, beating the Dodgers 3-1 in the NLDS to advance to the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies.

But in 2024, the Padres blew a 2-1 in the NLDS, losing Games 4 and 5 without scoring a single run, and had to sit at home while the Dodgers went on to win the World Series. 

It is very much possible that both teams make the playoffs once again in 2025 and even match up for a fourth time. That would certainly come with a lot of intrigue. 

But until then, all eyes are on the Padres’ return to Dodger Stadium August 15-17 to see what the next chapter in this beef may be. 

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