Whenever a baseball team wins a postseason series and celebrates with champagne and drinks in the locker room, it seems like reporters are just as much a part of the party as the players. And who wouldn’t want to celebrate with John Fanta?
The San Diego Padres were the last team to celebrate late Wednesday night, sweeping the Chicago Cubs in two games to win their Wild Card series. And much like we saw in Chicago with the White Sox and in New York with the Yankees, there were festive scenes. And while nobody quite did it like Muretaka Murakami with the South Siders, the Padres at least had NBC’s energetic and affable reporter/host/announcer in their clubhouse.
Fanta interviewed Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. in the locker room and asked about how the team found their groove after a mediocre first 100 games of the season. He also asked Tatis to look ahead to the challenge of facing the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS and ace pitcher Jacob Misiorowski.
But honestly, all we wanted to see was John Fanta get doused with some kind of alcoholic beverage. And that’s what Tatis delivered. A bottle of Bud Light was the shower of choice. Thankfully, Fanta was wearing a clear plastic parka because he knew what was coming, too.
A conversation and a Bud Light shower with Fernando Tatis Jr.
The San Diego Padres are rolling on to Milwaukee. pic.twitter.com/LVyKbvxvIS
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) October 1, 2026
We have certainly come a long way since the days when Tim McCarver and Deion Sanders shared a tense moment with the Atlanta Braves all those years ago, when he got his own bath in the locker room.
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