Tatis again stars as Padres take hold of NLDS
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO — For Fernando Tatis Jr., baseball’s purest form occurs back home, in the Dominican Republic, within the raucous stadiums and the tense environments unique to what is colloquially known as winter ball. Tatis plays there any chance he gets, even in years when Major League Baseball’s arduous season tires his body. It brings him joy. In some ways, Tatis has often expressed, it gives him life. And so perhaps it’s no surprise that Tatis has starred in his first true playoff experience. The electricity from it has empowered him.
“I feed off that type of energy,” Tatis said after he helped lift his San Diego Padres to a 6-5 Game 3 victory and 2-1 lead over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. “When the fans are coming, meaningful games, leave everything that you have out there — I just feel like I take it to another level. My mindset, my body — everything is just through the roof.”
Tatis’ latest home run, the highlight of a six-run second inning, was his fourth in five games in these playoffs, already tying Jim Leyritz in 1998 and Manny Machado in 2022 for the most in a single postseason in Padres history. Despite not reaching base in his other three at-bats Tuesday night, Tatis boasts a 1.970 OPS in that span. He is the second player — along with Carlos Beltran, who surged in October for the 2004 Houston Astros — to record at least 10 hits and four home runs through the first five postseason games, according to ESPN Research.
“Man, he’s really seeing the ball really big right now,” Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts said in Spanish. “He’s doing some incredible things. We obviously know he’s got supreme talent. We know that. He’s a great kid, works hard. I’ve seen that since I got here. He’s had injuries, but he’s worked hard to get back here. And he’s doing some really incredible things right now.”
The big inning that ultimately propelled the Padres to victory encapsulated the identity of their offense. They shortened their swings to take advantage of the vast dimensions of their spacious ballpark, stringing together six singles. They did the little things well, most notably Machado slightly veering off the basepath to draw an errant throw from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. They excelled at situational hitting, with Kyle Higashioka lifting a deep fly ball to score a run. They produced with runners in scoring position, this time with David Peralta lacing a two-run double down the right-field line. And then, they got the big hit.
Tatis provided it, unloading on an 0-2 fastball from Walker Buehler that sailed right over the heart of the plate and launching it 398 feet to left-center field. Tatis stood in the batter’s box until the baseball ricocheted off the left-field scoreboard, then rounded the bases jubilantly, channeling the energy of 47,744 fans — a Petco Park record — who ascended into hysteria.
“Man,” Tatis said, “when I hit it, I don’t know, I just blacked out.”
The Dodgers came within a run when Teoscar Hernandez‘s fly ball carried over the center-field fence for a third-inning grand slam. But a vaunted Padres bullpen would not allow them to get any closer. Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez relieved an ineffective Michael King and combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner and striking out six batters.
The Padres, the aggressors ever since the All-Star break, will go for the knockout punch in Game 4, starting Dylan Cease on short rest. The Dodgers, exceedingly short on starting pitching, will counter with a bullpen game. The Dodgers are coming off their 11th division title in 12 years, but they lost the season series to the Padres for the first time since 2010 and are noticeably broken at the moment. Their shortstop, Miguel Rojas, exited early after reaggravating the adductor tear he continues to try to play through. Freeman, their first baseman and No. 3 hitter, continues to look hobbled while playing through a sprained right ankle.
Also of concern: The Dodgers can’t quite figure out how to tame Tatis. The Padres’ star right fielder has put 12 balls in play through the first three games of this series. Eight have traveled more than 100 mph. He is 6-for-12 with five extra-base hits and has yet to strike out.
“He’s one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He just wants to go play and perform.”
When Tatis first played in the postseason, it was 2020, a year when the COVID-19 pandemic kept fans out of ballparks. When the Padres returned in 2022, Tatis was winding down a nightmare season that began with a wrist injury suffered in an offseason motorcycle accident and was followed by an 80-game suspension due to testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, forever tarnishing his image.
“He’s one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it. He just wants to go play and perform.”
Padres manager Mike Shildt on Fernando Tatis Jr.
He played in 141 games in 2023 but did not feel like himself, so he went back home the ensuing winter and played winter ball for his father, Fernando Tatis Sr. The younger Tatis arrived in spring training earlier this year determined to reestablish himself as a superstar, but then a stress reaction in his right femur robbed him of more than two months. He reemerged in September, but his return to superstardom occurred in October.
The first swing Tatis took in the postseason sailed over the fence, setting the tone in the Padres’ sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the wild-card round. In a Game 2 win over the Dodgers, he homered twice, added a double, leaped to rob Freeman of extra bases in the right-center-field gap and spent most of the night taunting an irate Dodger Stadium crowd. While most of his teammates lamented the hostility that surrounded them that Sunday night, Tatis seemed to bask in it.
“At the end of the day,” Tatis said then, “it’s a show. And we should enjoy every moment.”
He’s certainly enjoying his.
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Kristen Shilton
TORONTO — The Maple Leafs‘ offense was missing in action again in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night, as a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers now has Toronto facing playoff elimination.
The Leafs, who were shut out 2-0 in Game 4, didn’t score until the final two minutes of Game 5 and now trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series after holding a 2-0 lead.
Toronto’s top skaters were, again, invisible. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have yet to record a goal in the second round. And now the Leafs will have to log consecutive wins to extend their postseason.
“I think everybody’s got to look in the mirror,” Matthews said. “Myself included. Everybody wants to be better. Everybody wants to win.”
Matthews has just three goals in the Leafs’ last 21 games. He was third on the team in regular-season scoring, with 33 goals in 67 games.
It wasn’t just Matthews, though. Toronto was lifeless from the start of Game 5 and never seemed to challenge Florida at either end of the ice.
The Panthers heavily outplayed the Leafs throughout the first period, and it was defenseman Aaron Ekblad who finally beat goaltender Joseph Woll to give Florida a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.
While Woll kept Toronto in a tight matchup, it was clear already the Leafs were struggling to keep up with the Panthers.
“We played slow,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “They were fast, they were on us, they were hungrier. That’s the first period, and that sets the tone for the game. It is hard to explain it. We all need to be better, me included. You can’t start the game that way, that’s a big thing for me.”
The Panthers opened the floodgates in the second period, helped by a landslide of Leafs mistakes. Dmitry Kulikov extended Florida’s lead with a goal tipped in by Leafs forward Scott Laughton‘s stick. Then Marner’s attempt to execute a spinning backhand pass in his own zone led to a turnover in the neutral zone that was picked up by Jesper Boqvist and snapped past Woll to give Florida a 3-0 lead midway through the second frame.
Boqvist entered the lineup in Game 5 to replace the injured Evan Rodrigues, who left Sunday’s Game 4 following a hit from Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Niko Mikkola made it 4-0 before the end of the period, giving three Florida defensemen goals on the night.
By the time A.J. Greer scored Florida’s fifth goal — the first playoff make of his career — in the third period, it was time for Toronto to make a change in net, with Woll being replaced by Matt Murray.
Frustrated fans, who had booed the Leafs off their own ice to end the second period, began throwing items onto the sheet, including a Matthews jersey. People were exiting in droves by early in the third period.
“We didn’t give them much reason to stick around,” Matthews said.
Woll finished the game with five goals on 25 shots for an .800 save percentage.
Florida wasn’t done after Woll’s departure, though, with Sam Bennett adding a power play goal to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead halfway through the third period.
Toronto’s top skaters have had no response for Florida’s suffocating pressure — or Sergei Bobrovsky‘s impressive play.
Since giving up 13 goals to Toronto through the series’ first three games, Bobrovsky has been airtight in denying the Leafs any opportunity to score.
Berube tried making adjustments. He inserted David Kampf and Nicholas Robertson into the lineup for Game 5 to try and generate a spark, and moved Max Pacioretty to the top line during the game in an effort to generate some momentum. Nothing seemed to help.
Toronto hadn’t registered a goal since 10:56 of the third period of Game 3 until Robertson put one past Bobrovsky with 90 seconds left Wednesday night. It was all too little, too late.
“Tonight, it wasn’t a good game for anybody,” Berube said. “Anybody. All of us. it was not a good game.”
Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was quick to shoulder the burden of Toronto’s defeat, echoing a refrain heard around the locker room from players determined not to let this be the penultimate game of their season.
“I’ll take responsibility,” Tanev said. “I need to be better. If I’m a minus player [at minus-2 in Game 5], we’re probably not going to win the game. It’s on me. I’ll take responsibility for the game.”
Game 6 is Friday in Florida.
LAS VEGAS — Kasperi Kapanen scored on a scramble in front of the net at 7:14 of overtime, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to advance to the Western Conference finals for the second year in a row.
The Oilers, who last season made it to the Stanley Cup Final before losing in seven games to Florida, will play Dallas or Winnipeg in the next round. The Stars, who lead their series 3-1, will go for a series win Thursday night.
Kapanen’s goal backed up another shutout performance from goalie Stuart Skinner, who made 24 saves and drew several chants of “Stu! Stu!” from Oilers fans in the crowd. Skinner, who was benched two games into the playoffs, also blanked the Golden Knights in Game 4. This was his third start in a row in replacing injured Calvin Pickard.
Adin Hill made 29 saves for Vegas.
Both teams also were involved in the two most recent scoreless playoff games to reach overtime. The Oilers lost to Winnipeg on May 21, 2021, five days after the Golden Knights were defeated by Minnesota.
Edmonton’s only other 1-0 overtime playoff victory occurred in 1997 over Dallas. Vegas has yet to win a postseason game by that score in OT.
The Golden Knights played without captain Mark Stone because of an upper-body injury that caused him to sit out most of Game 3 on Saturday. He played in Game 4 on Monday but was far from being at full health.
Neither team scored through the first two periods, and prime scoring chances were at a premium. There were only five high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, and the Golden Knights had four of them.
But each team had a grade-A chance early in the third period. Vegas’ Brett Howden whiffed on a tap-in after taking a fantastic pass from Jack Eichel, and shortly after Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl failed to convert on a breakaway. Connor McDavid had a chance on a 2-on-1 to end the game in regulation but was denied by Hill with 1:06 left.
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