Fernando Tatis Jr., who hasn’t played since 2021 due to a combination of injuries and a PED suspension, is eligible to return today and will join a Padres team that has seriously loaded up in the time he’s been sidelined.

While Tatis was rehabbing a broken wrist last season (the result of an offseason motorcycle crash in the Dominican Republic), Tatis was suspended 80 games for testing positive for the steroid Clostebol. He’s also undergone three surgeries since he last played an MLB game (two on his wrist and one on his shoulder, which he injured in 2021), but he’s healthy now, and his suspension is up, meaning he’s ready to join a Padres team that looks a lot differently from the last time he took the field.

Over the past year or so, the Padres have taken some big swings in acquiring or retaining big-name players. They traded for Juan Soto, signed Xander Bogaerts and extended Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Jake Cronenworth. Their payroll is the third highest in the majors at $249 million, behind only the Mets and Yankees. The contracts of Tatis, Machado and Bogaerts are worth nearly $1 billion combined. This is a team that is eschewing its reputation for “small-market” thriftiness in a major way. Now the question is whether it can pay off.

San Diego went 89–73 last season, then advanced all the way to the NLCS, where it lost to the Phillies in five games. It was the Padres’ first NLCS appearance since they got swept in the World Series by the Yankees in 1998. Now, with Tatis back and Bogaerts added to the mix, the goal will be to at least replicate last year’s success.

Tatis will be critical in that pursuit. Before he got hurt, he was quickly blossoming into one of the best hitters in the sport. He led the NL with 42 home runs in 2021 (four more than Adam Duvall in second place) despite missing 32 games due to injury. And the Padres have a glaring hole in the lineup without him. Tatis will move from shortstop to right field upon his return (a move that had already been tested in ’21 to reduce his injury risk but made permanent when San Diego signed Bogaerts to play short), and right field has been an offensive black hole for the Padres this season. Their primary right fielders (primarily Jose Azocar and Rougned Odor) have driven in only three runs combined so far this season for a squad that is surprisingly third worst in runs per game in the National League. It’s difficult to project how good Tatis will be playing competitive MLB games for the first time in more than a year, but he’s got to be better than those guys.

Tatis sure looks ready to pick up where he left off. He played eight games at Triple A El Paso to prepare for his return and hit the cover off the ball in 39 plate appearances, posting an outrageous .515/.590/1.212 slash line. Seven of his 17 hits were home runs. When Tatis told Tom Verducci he expects to be an even better player than he was before his suspension, he might not have been exaggerating.

The Padres are off to a so-so start this season, with a 9–11 record after last night’s win over the Braves. Tonight’s game is the first of a four-game set against the Diamondbacks, who surprisingly lead the NL West at 11–8. In a sense, San Diego’s season starts tonight. The Padres were able to tread water while waiting for Tatis to return, and, now that he’s back, it’s time for them to play like one of the most expensive teams in baseball (the Mets and Yankees are a combined 23–14, for what it’s worth). If he can be anything like the player he was before his extended absence, the rest of the NL better watch out.

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Jeffery A&period; Salter/Sports Illustrated

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The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. The profane shouting match between the Bruins’ and Panthers’ benches that got picked up on rinkside reporter Ray Ferraro’s microphone.

4. The Mariners’ new home run trident.

3. John Konchar’s block on Anthony Davis shortly after Davis blocked him.

2. Leon Draisaitl’s deke leading the Oilers’ first goal against the Kings. (Edmonton won to even the series.)

1. Aaron Judge’s bobbling home run robbery against Shohei Ohtani and his diving catch in the eighth inning to keep the game tied. (Judge also homered in the Yankees’ 10-inning win.)

SIQ

When Michael Jordan scored a playoff-record 63 points against the Celtics on this day in 1986, a Boston player said after the game, “I think he’s God disguised as Michael Jordan.” Who said it?

Danny Ainge
Kevin McHale
Bill Walton
Larry Bird

Yesterday’s SIQ: On April 19, 1997, the Padres and Cardinals played the first MLB game in which city?

Honolulu
Tijuana
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Las Vegas

Answer: Honolulu. The three-game set (a Saturday doubleheader and the Sunday finale) was branded as the Padres Paradise Series and played at Aloha Stadium. The multipurpose stadium, best known for hosting the NFL’s Pro Bowl, had been the home of the Triple A Hawaii Islanders from 1976 to ’87.

Playing in Hawai‘i posed some challenges for both teams. The Padres’ previous game was in Pittsburgh, so the team flew back to San Diego before continuing on to the islands on a journey that took more than 12 hours. The Cardinals also had to fly clear across the United States from their previous stop in Miami.

The San Diego players got two days off once they arrived in Hawai‘i, while St. Louis only got one. Some Padres, though, enjoyed their time in the sun a little too much. Pitcher Sterling Hitchcock, who started the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, spent the previous day surfing and picked up a wicked sunburn. Hitchcock later recalled that his feet “were just on fire” as was tagged with the loss in the 1–0 defeat, but he allowed just six hits in eight innings of work.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it—no sunscreen, no nothing,” Hitchcock told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 2020. “Someone at the hotel sent me up a live aloe plant to put on my feet. I had people telling me to soak them in a milk bath. It was funny, more than anything. I was feeling a little bit stupid, especially prior to a start.

“I just didn’t think about it. Thank God I pitched well.”

Fellow starter Joey Hamilton accompanied Hitchcock on his surfing trip and was also roasted by the sun. Hamilton’s sunburn was so bad that manager Bruce Bochy said he would have had to scratch him from the lineup if he’d been scheduled to pitch.

The Cardinals won both games of the doubleheader, but the Padres won the finale Sunday. Losing the first two games took the fun out of the situation for Tony Gwynn.

“It’s bad enough to get beat, but to get beat 3,000 miles away from home in what is supposed to be a home game, and then you come out here at 2 o’clock, and it’ll be about 120 degrees out there on that turf, and then you’ve got a 3,000-mile flight home, and you’re home for three days, and then, boom, you’re off to Atlanta. And then you’re in Florida and then you’re in New York and you’ve got another five-hour flight,” Gwynn said. “It’s tough. But I understand why we’re trying to do it, and trying to make the best of it. But it ain’t easy.”

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