The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers got into a benches-clearing altercation in their final game of the series. It stemmed from Fernando Tatis Jr. getting hit by a pitch, something that has happened multiple times in recent years to Tatis against the Dodgers.
After the game, Padres manager Mike Shildt had some strong comments for the Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts over the incident with Tatis and the ensuing benches-clearing altercation. In a video shared on Twitter/X, he first answered the question of whether he thought it was intentional or not.
Shildt keeping it real as hell pic.twitter.com/SxgZ05ByBO
— Giannis Auntiegotapoodle (@TooMuchMortons_) June 20, 2025
"I'd like to think not," Shildt said. "Only a couple of people know that. Whether it was or it wasn't, enough is enough. We have a guy getting X-rays right now, that's one of the best players in the game, of course, on our team, and this guy's taking shots."
While Shildt wants to believe it wasn't intentional, considering the circumstances, it's hard not to see it so. With Tatis constantly at the brunt of hit-by-pitches, especially against the Dodgers, it's no surprise that Shildt has had enough. With Tatis potentially injured, it makes sense that Shildt is frustrated. It's even more frustrating because Shildt doesn't see his team as one that starts these kinds of altercations.
"Before this series," Shildt said. "And I can back this up with evidence, the track record speaks for itself, teams that I manage don't get into altercations like this, because teams that I manage don't throw at people."
"But also," Shildt continued. "Teams that I manage don't take anything, and after a while, I'm not going to take it. I'm not going to take it on behalf of Tatis. I'm not going to take it on behalf of our team, intentional or not. And if you wanna call that old school? Then yeah, we'll play old-school baseball."
The message Shildt is sending is clear: Don't mess with the Padres. Tatis getting hit by this pitch against the Dodgers is one way to mess with them, and now, the Padres are willing to play "old-school" baseball. This can be interpreted as meaning that the Padres may potentially retaliate down the road.
While Shohei Ohtani was hit by a pitch later in the game, the Padres could still leave the door open to retaliation. Shildt stands up for his players and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for his team. After this latest incident, he's warning the Dodgers, and effectively the rest of the league, that he isn't afraid of retaliating if harm is done to his team.