Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. called 'biggest winner' of August for one simple reason

The San Diego Padres are fighting with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League. After August, they have a very small lead.

Although it's only a small lead, the Padres were only able to build it thanks to one player: Fernando Tatis Jr. The superstar outfielder had an incredible August for the Padres.

ESPN's Jeff Passan named Tatis the "biggest winner" of August this year, and for a very simple reason: Tatis's home-run renaissance at the plate this month.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is 'biggest winner' of August thanks to HR renaissance

"Considering Fernando Tatis Jr. didn't hit his first home run this season until May 29, his August power surge was a pleasant surprise that propelled the Padres back into contention," Passan writes.

Tatis came into August with just eight home runs on the season, and he hadn't hit his first homer until the end of May. It's been a down year for the Padres' superstar outfielder.

In his regular season, across 109 games through the end of July, Tatis had eight homers, 49 RBIs, and a .758 OPS. He really turned things around in August.

Across 27 games, Tatis hit nine home runs with 18 RBIs, posting a .901 OPS in a huge month that has helped the Padres return to postseason contention.

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It was a rough start to the season for Tatis, and now he's back to his superstar self and could be the reason why San Diego winds up in a postseason spot when the year is over.

He needs to carry over his red-hot bat from August into September, as the NL Wild Card race is still on, and one bad week could have the Padres missing the postseason entirely.

Tatis is going to play a huge role, and if it weren't for his turnaround offensively, the Padres might be looking up at the Diamondbacks and some other NL Wild Card contenders with a much worse record than they have now.

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