The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off another dramatic series that really roots back to 2020. The Padres and Dodgers have met three times in the postseason since 2020, and last season's NL Division Series provided a ton of drama. This year, a lot of hit batters have caused tensions to rise, and neither manager is happy. After Thursday night's game, maybe plunking the batters will come to a halt.
There are a lot of conversations and opinions being formed about what happened last week during the seven-game series. The Dodgers won five of the seven games and are playing great baseball right now. The Padres, on the other hand, have been in a slump. Both teams are dealing with a ton of injuries. The fact that both teams felt like plunking opposing players is questionable; however, these two teams are rivals and do not like each other.
Foul Territory is a baseball podcast that features former MLB players, Erik Kratz and A.J. Pierzynski, and Scott Braun and Ken Rosenthal also join. They discussed the drama, and Kratz supports what Shildt did.
“If they keep going at you, at some point, you have to protect yourself.”@ErikKratz31 loves the way Mike Shildt stood on business and backed up his boys. pic.twitter.com/S0VC63A4SP
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 20, 2025
The Padres are tired of teams throwing at Fernando Tatis Jr. LA hit him three times during the series and even hit him last week, not to mention multiple times in the past. Shildt had enough of it and ran out of the dugout and called at Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts. Roberts ran out of the dugout as well, not happy after being called out. Dave Roberts slightly shoved Shildt, and the benches cleared.
Fernando Tatis Jr. gets hit with a pitch at the top of the 9th, and the benches have cleared in Dodgers vs. Padres 👀
(via @TalkinBaseball_)pic.twitter.com/FmqlqgvXEz
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 20, 2025
The Padres and Dodgers don’t meet again until mid- and late-August. Those two series should be extra spicy as both teams will be fighting for the NL West Division.