There’s an old saying in sports: “Great players play big in big games.” Historically it is true. Patrick Mahomes wins Super Bowls. Michael Jordan won NBA championships.

If it translates to baseball, the Padres are in a good spot because there are no bigger games than postseason games and Fernando Tatis Jr. tends to thrive in big matches. The superstar outfielder made just one appearance in the playoffs. But that one time?

My goodness, it was so impressive.

In the 2020 postseason, Tatis Jr. played. six games. He hit .318 with an OPS of 1.126 and had one swing so epic it landed on the cover of a video game.

That bat flip that ended up on the front cover of MLB The Show took place on October 1, 2020… exactly four years to the day that Tatis Jr. will make his postseason return in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card series against the Atlanta Braves. The 25-year-old missed the Padres’ 2022 playoff run due to injuries and a performance-enhancing drug suspension. Tatis Jr. says those moments in 2020 were great, but that may have been just a taste.

“I remember a lot about it. Especially the emotions,” Tatis Jr. says. “But I’m just looking forward to what we can do as a team this year. I feel part of what I did back then. It will definitely be even better this time.”

That could be a scary proposition for a Braves club coming to town as gassed as a baseball team can be. Atlanta had to play a doubleheader on Monday and win the second game to clinch the National League’s final playoff spot. Cy Young Award frontrunner Chris Sale is dealing with back spasms and isn’t even on the Braves Wild Card series roster.

Atlanta’s pitching staff is so heavily loaded that they will open the series with 21-year-old rookie AJ ​​Smith-Shawver on the mound against Padres righty Michael King. The latter has been one of the best pitchers in the National League over the past two months. The former is making his second career in the big league.

All over San Diego people were wearing their Padres gear, you can literally feel the excitement building up to game time. Nowhere is it bigger than in the East Village. NBC 7’s Todd Strain is in the middle of the fan frenzy.

Smith-Shawver is the second-ranked prospect in the heralded Atlanta system, but beyond that? The Padres go into this game more or less blind.

“We started our investigation last night. Obviously we don’t have a lot of information on him, but we’ve done our job to find out what he’s doing,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “But at the end of the day, it’s what we do. Our guys have been exposed to pitching since they were six, seven, eight, 10 years old. The ball comes over the plate. We have to figure out how it comes out, where it comes out, where it’s going, and I’m confident our guys will be ready.”

As for King, he enters his first career postseason start very well rested. King was scheduled to start the regular season finale in Arizona, but the Friars held him out for Game 1, giving him two extra days of preparation. In the second half of the season, King was on a roll, pitching to a 2.15 ERA after the All-Star break, but fell to a 1.57 mark in four starts in September.

Those are the kind of numbers that made King the centerpiece of the offseason trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees and sparked a rethink of the San Diego Padres.

Perhaps the defining factor in this series will be the location. Petco Park has become a formidable home field advantage. The Friar Faithful set a new single-season attendance record in 2024 and the past few playoff games in the East Village have been deafening (just ask the Dodgers about the foundation shaking in the 2022 NLDS), which brings us back to Tatis Jr.

He’s always fueled by the energy of a crowd, whether it’s those cheering him at home or those booing him on the road. The games he played in 2020, during the global pandemic, had nothing but cardboard cutouts in the seats. Now he finally gets to experience the playoffs in a packed Petco Park.

“It’ll be loud, just like it’s been all season,” says a laughing Tatis Jr. “I’m just looking forward to the energy, and you know what the fans are going to bring.

The first pitch for Game 1 is scheduled for 5:38 p.m. The winner of Tuesday’s tilt will be one win away from advancing to the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.