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Old school baseball was known for its physicality. If a star player got hit by a pitch, you knew that someone on the other team was getting hit their next time up at the plate.
These beefs added to rivalries between teams, but also admittedly made the game more exciting when a brawl would break out or a hitter would charge the mound. You don't see it as often in today's game. The idea of retaliation largely has faded, and when benches clear, the only thing that tends to happen is some shoving while the guys from the bullpen are forced to trot in for support.
The Dodgers and Padres have a renewed rivalry in the National League West, though. They play each other 13 times per season, which can lead to animosity. Los Angeles and San Diego just wrapped up a four-game series, and it followed a three-game series they had last week. Seven games in the span of 10 days against an opponent can be frustrating, especially if you aren't playing well. The series was pretty chippy throughout, which came to a head in the series finale when both Shohei Ohtani and Fernando Tatis Jr. were hit by pitches.
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Here is what happened in the series finale between the Dodgers and the Padres.
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Dodgers-Padres benches clear
There were four days of games, and the drama didn't wait long to get started. In Monday's series opener, it was fairly tame. San Diego's Dylan Cease hit Los Angeles' Andy Pages with the outfielder staring down the pitcher, though the situation didn't escalate any further.
Tuesday's game is where it feels like the proverbial match was lit for the combustible situation. Both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani — the respective stars of their teams — were hit in the span of an inning. The umpires issued warnings to both sides, and L.A. manager Dave Roberts didn't agree that the Dodgers should've been warned, so he argued and was tossed. Later in the game, Jose Iglesias was hit by Matt Sauer, but it was deemed unintentional so Sauer wasn't ejected.
Fernando Tatis Jr. was not happy after getting hit by a pitch in the 3rd inning 👀
Andy Pages just got hit yesterday.
Dodgers vs Padres off to a feisty start again! pic.twitter.com/QZPwSV568T
Pages got hit again on Wednesday, this time by San Diego starter Stephen Kolek, but there was no stare-down or benches clearing. Then came Thursday's series finale. San Diego was up 5-0 in the ninth inning. Not only was it the series finale, but the divisional opponents aren't scheduled to play again until August 15.
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Los Angeles' Jack Little was in his Major League debut, and an up-and-in fastball caught Tatis on the hand. San Diego manager Mike Shildt came out of the dugout to check on Tatis but very quickly turned his attention to Roberts, who came out to confront Shildt. Roberts bumped into Schildt, and their teams emptied the dugouts and bullpens immediately to back their managers.
Benches cleared during Padres-Dodgers after Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit
Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt had words for each other pic.twitter.com/5NQkbRKtlg
Schildt was clear why he was upset. The Dodgers appear to have an affinity for hitting Tatis unlike any other team. The star outfielder has been hit six times, with five of them coming in the last two seasons and three in the last 10 days. Schildt said in a postgame interview, "After a while, enough’s enough. Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is I took exception with it." Roberts said it wasn't intentional, but Schildt responded, "Whether it was or it wasn’t, enough is enough. We’ve got a guy that’s getting X-rays right now that’s one of the best players in the game and, of course, on our team."
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Ohtani was hit in the bottom half of the inning. He instantly started motioning for his team to stay in the dugout to prevent any other conflict. You can see in the clip that veteran pitcher and future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw already had one leg over the railing to defend his teammate.
AND NOW OHTANI HAS BEEN HIT BY A PITCH???? pic.twitter.com/IIS6wTmyU1
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 20, 2025
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