Padres’ Tatis Jr. Avoids Surgery For Now

Members of the San Diego Padres front office have seen their heart rhythms return to normal on the news that it appears the shoulder injury suffered by Fernando Tatis Jr. will not need season-ending surgery.

Locking up the 22-year-old was one of the chief accomplishments in a very good offseason in San Diego. But a swing on Monday night sent him to the ground in obvious pain, and the speculation about his shoulder — the same shoulder that forced him out of a spring training game — included labral tears and possible bone loss.

An MRI has revealed a slight tear in the labrum, but, according to Padres general manager A.J. Preller, rest and rehab is enough for the injury to heal. He went on to say that doctors don’t think that Tatis could make the injury worse by playing, but just to be safe, he has been placed on the 10-day injured list.

The most important revelation from the MRI was that the rotator cuff shows no damage, and even though Tatis has been plagued by shoulder injuries since he was playing rookie ball, the Padres don’t think that this is the gateway to more injuries in the future.

Tatis is the face and future of the Padres and signed a 14-year, $341 million contract in February. San Diego still remains the second-favorite on the odds board at +275 for winning the NL West division, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Other Injury News
The Toronto Blue Jays’ big offseason acquisition is nearly ready to appear in a regular-season game. George Springer has been struggling with an oblique strain since spring training, but on Tuesday, he faced live pitching for the first time since being shut down. This is good news in charting his possible return to the lineup.

Mariners starter James Paxton recorded just four outs in his season debut before getting shut down with discomfort in his left elbow. Paxton has struggled with injuries most of his career, including a strained left flexor tendon that cost him most of last season. Paxton has been on the injured list at least once every year since 2016.

The Washington Nationals finally got their season underway five days later than expected because of multiple positive COVID-19 tests. In response to that outbreak, the Nationals have placed 10 players on the injured list.

The team was forced to recall seven players and sign catcher Jonathan Lucroy to fill out a roster for their Opening Day game, which they ended up winning 6-5 over Atlanta.

All-Star Game Moved to Denver
Because of the controversy surrounding a series of voting laws passed in the state of Georgia, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has taken the All-Star Game out of Atlanta and awarded it to Denver.

Coors Field last hosted the All-Star Game in 1998 and had been preparing a bid to host the game again in 2024. But the opportunity arose for three months from now, and both the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado jumped at the chance to host it.

Currently, the Rockies are capping Coors Field at 42% of capacity (21,600), but Governor Jared Polis says that he anticipates that by the All-Star Game in July, the ballpark will be at full capacity.