Fernando Tatis Jr. and Julio Rodriguez exchange custom bats as part of MLB's "Heroes of the Game" campaign

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Julio Rodriguez exchanged customized baseball bats ahead of the MLB Rivarly Weekend's Vedder Cup contest between the Padres and Mariners in Seattle. The Dominican superstars linked up as a part of the league's "Heroes of the Game" campaign.

The signed custom bats featured the likeliness of the two superstars and is decorated with their team's colors and insignia.

"J-Rod and Tatis Jr., two #HeroesOfTheGame trading custom bats." - mlbespanol

The league's most recent project will feature stars such as Tatis, Rodriguez, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Paul Skenes in an anime reimagination.

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Primarily created to focus on fans of anime and the youth, the "Heroes of the Game" project will reportedly feature artists and animators from popular manga series "One Piece" and "Fullmetal Alchemist."

Top anime director Hiroshi Shimizu, who was involved in creations such as "Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween," "Doraemon the Movie," and "Banana Fish" will also be involved in the campaign.

MLB's Rivalry Weekend opens with a bang

MLB's first-ever "Rivalry Weekend" is off to a bang as several teams rekindled past grudges while others stunned their heavily-favored rivals.

The weekend's set of fixtures kicked of in the Windy City as Pope Leo XIV's favorite baseball club, the Chicago White Sox — fell to their crosstown nemesis Chicago Cubs.

The 22-24 Cincinnati Reds then stunned the Cleveland Guardians in the Ohio Cup with a 5-4 victory. In the Subway Series, the Yankees spoiled Juan Soto's return to his former stomping ground as they held the $765 million star hitless in a 6-2 win.

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In Texas, the Astros overwhelmed their divisional foe Rangers when they opened a six-spot in the seventh inning that was capped off Christian Walker's three-bomb for a 6-3 victory.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks shutout the Rockies in the desert as the latter lost its fourth-straight game and the ninth out of the last ten contests. Colorado currently owns the worst record in the league at 7-37, including a -145 run differential.

In comparison, the 2024 White Sox posted an 11-28 record with a run differential of -85 in their disastrous season. Only time will tell if the Rockies will break the obnoxious stat line.

Finally, the biggest surprise of the inaugural MLB Rivalry Weekend occured in Los Angeles as the Angels trounced Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers on the road. The Angels handed starter Dustin May his fourth loss of the year after the hurler gave up four runs on six hits in five innings.

Ron Washington's squad outclassed Dave Roberts' defending champions on both sides of the ball in the 6-2 win for Anaheim.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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Edited by Daniel Santiago