Even if Max Muncy won’t call it a rivalry, whatever the Dodgers and Padres have going is undeniably good for baseball.
Just don’t expect Mookie Betts to talk about it.
Tensions boiled over Thursday night with a benches-clearing brawl that felt inevitable after two straight games of rising hostility. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Padres skipper Mike Shildt got face-to-face after Fernando Tatis Jr. was drilled in the wrist.
Benches cleared in Los Angeles after Fernando Tatís Jr. was hit by a pitch.
Managers Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt had a lot to say to each other. pic.twitter.com/fm4OncWNtV
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) June 20, 2025
“This isn’t one of those ‘Hey, just get out there and hug one another.’ There’s some real bad blood out there.”
“You already don’t like each other, gonna see each other a bunch…this was not something that would have been hard to envision.”
Eric Karros and Joe Davis react. https://t.co/ZWmZsSGyWV pic.twitter.com/vsZeZmLYSp
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2025
“It was only a matter of time. Tati’s been hit twice and has each time handled it like a pro. But at some point, enough is enough, whether it’s accidental or not.”
Tony Gwynn Jr. reacts to the benches clearing. https://t.co/ZWmZsSGyWV pic.twitter.com/uATgyC1Dbf
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2025
The chaos didn’t come out of nowhere. Two days earlier, both Tatis and Ohtani were hit in the span of an inning, prompting Roberts to storm the field and demand to know why both teams were issued warnings instead of just the Padres. He was tossed for his trouble. Later in that same game, Matt Sauer plunked José Iglesias, but both sides deemed it to be incidental.
So when a reporter in the Dodgers’ clubhouse asked veteran Mookie Betts to paint a clearer picture of why the fireworks happened between Shildt and Roberts — and whether Tuesday had anything to do with it — Betts showed zero interest in even going there.
“I don’t know. I ain’t got nothing to do with that,” the Dodgers All-Star shortstop said regarding a brawl involving the very team he plays for. “There’s gonna be zero controversy talk over here. So, if y’all wanna talk about hit by pitches, we can go ahead and end it.”
Mookie Betts: “There’s gonna be zero controversy talk over here, so if y’all wanna talk about hit by pitches, we can go ahead and end it.” pic.twitter.com/s4CittgKDn
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 20, 2025
Max Muncy might deny it, and Mookie Betts won’t touch it, but the Dodgers-Padres rivalry is exactly what baseball needs right now. What it doesn’t need are injuries, especially as Manny Machado warned that the Dodgers should pray Tatis isn’t hurt. Regardless of Tatis’ X-rays, this feud isn’t going away anytime soon, no matter how much Betts tries to stay out of it.
