San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. turns heads with his flashy style of play. Rivalries exist in every sport. Yet, baseball feels different. Playing without a face mask or helmet for half the game allows opposing fans to not only make eye contact with you but also affords them the chance to get personal.
While some ribbing between players and rival fans resides in the playful realm, other times the mutually spewed vitriol takes the game to an ugly level that no one truly needs, whether in the crowd or on the field.
Padres Outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. Details Strong Dislike for Dodgers Fans
Once upon a time, simple booing stood as the level of showing dislike for opposing players. Yet, as times became more aggressive, the conversation changed. Now, with a seemingly unfiltered approach, the tone changed to occasionally abusive, bordering on disturbing.
Tatis Jr. spoke to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune regarding the vocal enmity.
“That provides context for how bad it must be that Tatis Jr. said yesterday afternoon, ‘I just don’t like it.’
“Tatis Jr. laughed before saying it, but he was not joking. Among the indignities he has endured here is a significant number of fans cheering when he was hit in the back by a 95-mph fastball Tuesday night. ‘Everybody knows Dodgers fans,’ Tatis Jr. said. ‘It’s part of the circus.'”
Separated by just 125 miles, Los Angeles and San Diego started their MLB rivalry in 1969. The expansion Padres endured a 14-0 drubbing at the hands of their neighbors to the north in their first game. Since then, including last night, the two teams have played 969 times, with the Dodgers holding a 535–433–1 advantage.
The Padres, for the better part of seven decades, fell into the little brother role. In their two World Series opportunities (1984, 1998), the Friars could not win the title. Meanwhile, in the same time period, the Dodgers claimed four trophies (1981, 1988, 2020, and 2024). If you add on the fact that San Diego currently sits six full games behind Los Angeles in the National League West, the dislike is palpable.
Against the current Dodgers pitching staff, Tatis Jr. is hitting .264/.346/.514 with five home runs and seven runs batted in. So, the jeering from the Dodgers fanbase seems rather misplaced. Plus, with every passing week, the Dodgers appear to place more distance between them and the rest of the division.
Either way, this is the life Tatis Jr. chose when he signed a 14-year, $340 million contract in 2021, according to Spotrac. Until the end of the 2034 season, the two-time All-Star will need to ignore the boobirds and focus on the game at hand.