For most of the season, the San Diego Padres — led by MVP candidate Fernando Tatis Jr. — had been in position to earn a playoff spot out of the stacked NL West. That changed in a matter of days thanks to a brutal 2-8 stretch.
The Padres now find themselves 3.5 games out of the final wild card spot with the Reds and Phillies in front of them in the standings. And as the Padres’ playoff hopes slipped away in St. Louis, frustrations boiled over right in plain view.
During Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals, video hit social media of Manny Machado yelling in the face of Tatis Jr. right in the dugout. The two players were separated, but Machado took issue with Tatis’ reaction to striking out earlier in the inning. Thankfully, the full context of the altercation was broken down brilliantly by the folks at Jomboy Media. Here’s their latest breakdown video. (NSFW language)
Machado screams some tough love at Tatís, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/eQr87FC6bL
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) September 20, 2021
While Machado was clearly animated, he was generally trying to get Tatis to focus on the game and have him move on. After all, he was literally calling Tatis the “best player in the world.” Those aren’t exactly fighting words.
Given that Padres manager Jayce Tingler went out there and got ejected in defense of Tatis, though, it was easy to see why Machado was upset. It was a crucial game, and the Padres just lost their manager because the star player threw a tantrum over a couple strike calls (and they were actually correct calls). But as the video pointed out, Machado probably could’ve had that conversation away from cameras. By doing that out in the open, his attempt to re-focus Tatis became a distraction in itself.
On the bright side, the two players seemed to resolve their issues come Sunday. They were seen smiling together in the dugout.
So, that was nice at least. The Padres still lost, 8-7, on Sunday.