Fernando Tatis Jr. has spent most of 2026 answering questions about what's wrong with him. On the road at Citi Field against the Mets, he spent one night making sure nobody asks again for a while.
It started early. Tatis got the Padres on the board in the top of the 1st, sending a ball 452 feet off the bat at 113.2 mph as he jogged around first watching it disappear.
Tatis's first-inning homer left the bat at 113.2 mph and traveled 452 feet.
That kind of exit velocity is the version of Tatis that made him a $340 million cornerstone in the first place, and it's the version that's been mostly missing this season. Back in May, manager Craig Stammen dropped him to fifth in the order — the lowest he'd hit since his 2019 rookie year — with Tatis slashing.252/.324/.301 and stuck on zero home runs across 143 plate appearances, a.625 OPS nearly 230 points below his career mark and an OPS+ of 76. This was the longest homerless drought of his career.
Then came the play everyone's still talking about. With Francisco Lindor up and a grand slam seemingly headed over the fence, Tatis climbed the wall in front of the Mets bullpen and pulled it back, turning a potential four-run swing into an out.
Tatis reaches over the outfield wall to rob the ball before later rounding the bases on a second home run.
It's not the first time Lindor's teammates have watched Tatis do this to somebody. He's built a reputation for robbery over the years, going as far as robbing Rafael Devers of a home run in back-to-back seasons and taking one from Mark Vientos on a similar leap at the wall. Robbing a would-be grand slam, though, is a different level of gut-punch for the guy standing at the plate.
The Padres celebrate on the field after Tatis takes a grand slam away from Francisco Lindor.
He wasn't done. Tatis added a second homer later in the game, this one going 379 feet at 104.3 mph, pushing the Padres out to a 3-0 lead and turning what could've been just a good night into a signature one. Barstool's Eric Hubbs summed up the absurdity of it mid-game: he'd already awarded Tatis a full extra win of value "and it's only the 6th inning".
San Diego came into the series in second place in the NL West behind the Dodgers, still very much alive in a playoff race that could come down to nights exactly like this one. A five-month slump doesn't erase itself in a single game, but a homer, a robbed slam, and a second homer against a division rival is about as loud a reminder as Tatis could send that the bat and the glove that made him a superstar haven't gone anywhere.