This must be the worst news Padres fans could have possible imagined. Superstar shortstop Fernadno Tatis Jr. has just been suspended by the MLB for 80 games due to a positive PEDs test result.
The Padres won’t make the playoffs this season with Tatis now banned for 80 games for his use of the PED Clostebol. I must say that I’m pretty shocked that he was caught using a muscle-building PED as I didn’t think he needed any more strength. Still, Tatis Jr. insists that he was using a treatment for a ringworm infection that he didn’t realize contained the steroid (which is a bit TMI if true), but I’m not sure if I believe him.
How did he get ringworm rehabbing his broken wrist? Anyway, whether this is true or not, I’m still really disappointed in him and for the Padres as their season is all but over now because of this news.
I know he has already missed the entire season, but the Padres were counting on Tatis Jr. to come back from his broken wrist and cement this team as playoff challengers in these final 48 games.
That won’t happen now.
Tatis Jr. was the fifth best home run hitter in the MLB last season as he slugged 42 homers into the stands. His sheer talent in scoring home runs was invaluable for the Padres last season, even though they missed the playoff yet again, as no other San Diego player even made the Top-50 in home runs scored.
I know the Padres have just gone out and gotten Juan Soto, the all-star right fielder from the Washington Nationals, but he has only ever scored 30+ home runs in a season once (which was back in 2018). As of right now, the two superstars on this Padres team, Manny Machado and Juan Soto, have a combined home run total of 42 (22 for Soto, 20 for Machado).
As I said, Tatis Jr. matched that alone last season.
I know I may be making a lot out this home run stat, but the Padres have struggled to score consistently all season long. Sand Diego currently only has 103 HR in 111 GMs, which puts the Padres as the 22nd best HR hitting team out of 30.
Yeah, pretty awful considering out of the twelve teams in the postseason right now, only the Guardians have a worse HR stat (89 HR) then them. And the Guardians play in the worst MLB Division and wouldn’t be a playoff team if they weren’t in the AL Central.
Anyways, acquiring Soto and third-baseman Brandon Durry (currently only 22 HR) from the Cincinnati Reds were brilliant moves as they will make up for the lack of Tatis Jr.’s 40+ HR production. Nevertheless, they will need these two players and Manny Machado to increase their HR scoring by 30% or more if they want to stay above the Phillies for the 6th and final playoff spot in the NL.
And with the Phillies just coming off a 7-game win streak, I don’t see the Padres being able to do that. I fear it will be yet another year of no October baseball for this postseason-cursed franchise.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: Ryan Casey Aguinaldo) (Source:Ryan Casey Aguinaldo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
