Padres Reliever Calls Out Dodgers Fans for Disrespect Toward Players

Growing up attending Los Angeles Dodgers games can get some usually unseen perspective for a San Diego Padres pitcher.

As the two franchises have grown less fond of each other in recent years, the tensions that took over during this past four-game set reached heights that were not met since the 2024 NLDS.

Friars reliever Jeremiah Estrada grew up in Indio, CA, about two and a half hours from Dodger Stadium. He spoke to the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders about what heckling opposing players looked like when he would attend games as a boy, to the new generation of taunts he receives from baseball fans.

“Being a bad kid … I’ll throw a piece of gum at him or sit there and be like, “Ball!,” Estrada said on sitting by the bullpen at Dodger Stadium growing up. “Or, ‘I’m taking that (expletive) deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.’ But I‘m not throwing a beer bottle at somebody in the main game because the left fielder (upset me), …  because they’re doing showboating (expletive). That’s soft stuff. You let another man make you mad. Like, come on, it’s a baseball game.

“But (heckling) is more of the game. Fans are just trying to get at the players. You’re trying to get in their head.”

Estrada is referencing the now infamous Game 2 of the NLDS where fans threw beer bottles, among other debris, onto the field. As the 2025 version of the Padres and Dodgers matchups luckily didn't feature thrown objects, Thursday night saw a benches-clearing brawl between the two clubs, ending with each team's manager (and the Padres' replacement manager) being ejected.

Superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. was pegged by Dodgers rookie Jack Little in the ninth inning. Although Little was making his MLB debut and the score was 5-0, Friars manager Mike Shildt took the errant throw to the wrist as an intentional move.

As Shildt made his way to the dugout, manager Dave Roberts didn't appear to take kindly to the words being shared and both dugouts emptied as a result.

After about 10 minutes, play resumed. In the bottom of the inning, Shohei Ohtani was then hit by a seemingly much more intentional pitch that got reliever Robert Suarez sent back to the clubuhouse early.