Los Angeles Dodgers SP/DH Shohei Ohtani is a man who shows his opponents great respect. When it’s earned. Ohtani doesn’t believe San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt has earned respect, and so he doesn’t tip his cap to the opposing dugout at Petco Park or Chavez Ravine when Shildt’s club comes to town.
Dodgers play-by-play commentator Stephen Nelson pointed out the trend during an appearance on ESPN LA. As Nelson explained, a June 19, 2025, incident where Padres closer Robert Suarez hit Ohtani with a presumed intentional inside pitch, in what was likely a Shildt dig at Dave Roberts and Co., caused the cold war between Ohtani and San Diego’s clubhouse leader.
“I’ll give you something. Next time you guys talk about the Dodgers-Padres rivalry, if you notice, if you watch Shohei Ohtani at the start of every game, his first plate appearance, he walks to the plate, and he tips his helmet to the opposing dugout. Right, and then he does his salute.There is only one team and one manager he stopped doing that for, and that’s Mike Shildt and the San Diego Padres after what happened at Dodger Stadium, where they threw up and in at 100 with Suarez and hit him in the back,” Nelson said.
“And he handled that with grace in the moment, he calmed the tempers for the Dodgers dugout, ‘do not come out here, stay in, I’m fine,’ he laughed about it with Suarez at the All-Star Game, but in the ensuing Dodgers-Padres series after that, there was no more pregame salute.
“So we talk about manners and respect, I think his understanding is that respect is a two-way street. Once you cross that line, he is aware of it. And I thought that spoke volumes. He never said anything, nor will he ever, but that silence, I think, says a lot.”
Rivalries are good for baseball, and the NL West has the most intensity in its rivalries of any division in the league. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox rivalry isn’t what it used to be, mainly because the Pinstripes have won a single pennant since their 2009 World Series run.
This rivalry has a clear cause, a classic hero-villain arc, and is between two fanbases divided by roughly 100 miles on California’s Gold Coast. Talk about made-for-TV.
Of course, it’ll never be the sport’s best rivalry until the Padres can usurp the San Francisco Giants and Dodgers as the Golden State’s most recent champions. At least the Giants have history on their side.
Shildt needs to put his team in a position where the most memorable thing they did all season isn’t angering the sport’s most game-changing global superstar. Things are just a bit too one-sided between the two teams right now.
