The Dodgers-Padres rivalry was already brimming with bad blood. However, what unfolded in their latest showdown crossed a line that had been inching closer for days. When Fernando Tatis Jr. took a 93 mph heater to the hand late in Thursday night’s game—the star’s third hit-by-pitch in just nine days against the Dodgers—it did not just hurt physically.

It ignited something deeper. He did not lash out. Instead, Tatis Jr delivered a calm message after the game: “Just clean it up. I come over here to play baseball and that’s all my intention to do on the field. But all the other crap, we don’t have time. If you can’t control it, you make a better attack approach.” That statement was a warning flare.

Mike Shildt also matched this tone, stepping in immediately after the hit. The manager said, “Whether it was or it wasn’t [intentional], 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.” He is correct.

When rookie Jack Little plunked Tatis Jr in the ninth, the Padres manager did not hesitate. He marched toward the field and let the competitor know this was not going to be swept under the rug. What made it worse was the context—the Dodgers had already hit Tatis Jr twice earlier in the same series and five times since the start of 2024. As per ESPN, no other team has hit Fernando Tatis Jr more than four times in his career. Such a number alone gave weight to Shildt’s anger.

The Padres skipper was not just defending his star—Mike Shildt was putting MLB on notice. “Teams that I manage don’t get into altercations like this,” he said. “But also, teams I manage don’t take anything. After a while, I’m not going to take it… intentional or unintentional.” And if anyone thought Mike Shildt was bluffing, the veteran skipper added a final punchline: “If you want to call that old-school, then yeah, we’ll play old-school baseball.”

As the game spiraled, Shohei Ohtani got hit, too, with a 100 mph fastball, making it the eighth hit batter of the series. Yet the aim remained at the repeated targeting of Tatis. While Dave Roberts insisted there was no intent, the Padres were not buying it.

If this were the Padres drawing a line, the team did it with bold ink. And August—when they meet again—can not come soon enough.

If Shildt’s outburst was the Padres’ official warning to MLB, then Manny Machado’s words were the gut punch. The third baseman did not just echo his manager’s frustration—the star escalated it with a message straight from the dugout to the Dodgers’ front steps.

Manny Machado calls out Dave Roberts and asks for accountability

When they drilled Fernando Tatis Jr. yet again, Manny Machado did not stop. The veteran star not only questioned the opponent’s repeated targeting of the Padres star but also went straight for their skipper, Dave Roberts, with a vital accusation. “I definitely saw that contact,” Machado said. “I think [Roberts] wanted some smoke. Shildty said, What’s up, let’s go. Where you at? I guess [Roberts] stayed on the other side.” In his eyes, Roberts was not just a bystander in the chaos—he was part of the provocation.

However, the beef went beyond body language. Machado’s concern was Tatis’ safety and the suspicious trend of hit-by-pitches. “It is, I don’t know, eight, nine, 10 in a row already, the last three or four years,” Machado notes with frustration in every word. “They got to pray it comes back negative tomorrow. You know? Just pray.” Machado’s statements were not hyperbole—they were a genuine plea for league-wide introspection.

“That’s just unacceptable,” Machado added further. It is not just related to wins anymore. It is related to ensuring stars are not being sacrificed in crossfire and these do not change? Machado made it clear: the Padres won’t stay quiet.

The Padres did not just leave the Dodgers with a win—the team left a message echoing through MLB. With Mike Shildt drawing a tough line and Manny Machado asking for accountability, the tension between these NL West competitors has officially boiled over. If the hits keep coming, so will the implication.

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