Phillies: the Phillie Phanatic Upstages Fernando Tatis Jr.

The Philadelphia Phillies are playing host to the San Diego Padres this weekend, which means that that the east coast gets to see one of baseball’s youngest and brightest stars in person.

There is definitely a wide gap between east coast and west coast baseball, in terms of what fans see depending on where they live. I always knew that Mike Trout was amazing, but it took me moving to Los Angeles and driving down to Angel Stadium to see him play in person to understand just how supremely talented he is. 10/10 would recommend, by the way.

Phillies fans (and probably some Yankees and Mets fans in the area) have that chance this weekend with Fernando Tatis Jr.

On Thursday, it was announced that Tatis will be the NL starting shortstop in the 2021 All-Star Game, his first. Though the game was not played in 2020, Tatis and Padres third baseman Manny Machado were among the “Unofficial 2020 All-Stars” MLB determined would have been in the game if it had been played.

In fact, Tatis will be the first Padres position player elected to start in the ASG in over a decade. Everth Cabrera was a reserve shortstop for the game in 2013, but the Padres haven’t seen a talent like Tatis in a long time.

The Phillie Phanatic was “unhappy” Tatis was getting so much attention.

Of course, the Phillie Phanatic was not thrilled to share the spotlight with Tatis, who cheerfully signed autographs for hordes of fans.

Once the game started, Tatis faced Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who will presumably be the only Phillie in the All-Star Game this season. Tatis struck out, but later in the game, doubled to break Wheeler’s streak of nine consecutive batters retired. It was only the second hit of the game for the Padres.

Luckily for Tatis, he won’t have to face Wheeler; for once, they’ll be playing for the same team.