Fernando Tatis Jr. gifts Padres fans electrifying grand slam in 70th sellout of 2025

Fernando Tatis Jr. is a man of the people. There are very few guys in Major League Baseball so beloved and so deeply rooted with the team that they play for, and Tatis Jr. is one of those players. It's impossible to talk about the San Diego Padres without Tatis Jr.'s name coming up.

A Platinum Glover. An All-Star. A Silver Slugger. A superstar. Tatis Jr. seemingly always answers the bell for the Padres, and on Friday night in front of a packed crowd at Petco Park, Tatis Jr. delivered the greatest gift possible to his fans.

Trailing, 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs while facing a full count, Tatis Jr. powered his 24th home run of the season, a sky-high grand slam off of All-Star pitcher Zac Gallen. He did it with swagger, and he did it on the final home Friday night of the regular season in the club's colorful City Connect uniforms.

It was perfect.

Tatis Jr. had missed a few games entering Friday night, but was riding a red-hot streak before he fell ill. He came back with conviction to give the people what they wanted, which happened in front of the Padres' 70th sellout crowd of the 2025 season. Tatis Jr. was grateful, just as we are for him.

The 26-year-old star knows how faithful Padres fans can be (they broke an attendance record after all this year), and though there are still two more games in the regular season, his grand slam is a perfect send-off into the playoffs. This was one of, if not the most, memorable home runs of the season. It packaged everything great about the Padres' season all into one: A jam-packed crowd, with the team in unique jerseys, with the star player hitting a grand slam, all on a picturesque Friday night as they eliminated a division rival from the playoffs.

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