Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has a routine during his first at-bat of every game, tipping his cap to the opposing dugout to show respect to his opponents.
Recently, though, he has begun to forego his routine against the San Diego Padres.
The Padres and the Dodgers have had a heated rivalry over the past couple of seasons, and it’s clear the teams don’t like each other.
This couldn’t have been clearer earlier in the season, when a tense series between the two teams ended in a benches clearing brawl.
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LA took the first three games of the series, during which Andy Pages got hit twice, and Shohei Ohtani once. Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. also wore a pitch in the second game of the series.
San Diego held a 5-0 lead in the final game of the set, and Dodgers reliever Jack Little came in for his MLB debut. Little caught Tatis on the hand with a fastball, causing Padres manager Mike Shildt to come out of the dugout. Shildt yelled at Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, causing him to enter onto the field and exchange shoves. Both dugouts flooded onto the field in the incident, causing a huge delay in the game.
The game resumed after the benches cleared, but tempers still ran hot. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Padres closer Robert Suarez threw at Ohtani, marking the second time he had been hit during the series.
Suarez instantly got ejected from the game, and the Dodgers looked ready to pour out of the dugout once more. Ohtani, though, motioned for them to stay put, and the game continued.
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After the game, Shildt expressed his frustrations with the incident, and didn’t explicitly deny that Suarez hit Ohtani intentionally.
“After a while, enough’s enough,” Shildt said. “Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is I took exception with it.”
Since then, Ohtani hasn’t saluted the Padres’ dugout, showing he hasn’t forgotten the incident.
Shildt is no longer in charge of the Padres after retiring at the end of the 2025 season, so whether or not Ohtani salutes the Padres’ dugout next season is uncertain.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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