“Why are Padres fans so violent?” - MLB fans erupt after GM reveals former manager Mike Shildt faced death threats before sudden retirement

San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt's retirement on Saturday took baseball fans by surprise. The decision comes in the wake of the NL West team's postseason exit after the NL Wild Card series loss against the Chicago Cubs.

Shildt was expected to return for the 2026 season after guiding the team to successive playoff appearances. The 57-year-old said the decision came in the wake of health issues and death threats during the season.

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller confirmed that the veteran manager faced threats from sports gamblers, contributing to his surprise retirement.

Fans reacted to the news on social media.

"Why are Padres fans so violent?"

"I don’t care for the Padres. I really don’t like the way a few of their players act and play the game. But, death threats to a manager, coach or player is absolutely unacceptable. This is a game people. Your life should not be any better or any worse, whether they win or lose."

"Damn I didn’t agree with Shildty a lot of times but death threats is insane 😑"

"Sports fans are insane. It's not that important folks. Has to be gamblers."

"There’s some idiot people out there….ridiculous!"

Former Padres manager Mike Shildt rules out MLB return after surprise retirement

While the Padres made a disappointing exit from the postseason, Mike Shildt said there were no half-measures in their preparations.

“I don’t want people to think I checked out or wasn’t engaged or wasn’t doing my job,” Shildt said. “No, that’s not the case. I tell myself, and I have done it since day one of this job, regardless of level … I’m going bell to bell. I’m going to give it everything I got. Because I owe it to the team and the players. So, I did that."

Shildt said he suffered health issues during the season and had trouble sleeping due to the demanding role in San Diego. The veteran manager said he is not looking to return to management anytime soon and intends to retire to his beach house in North Carolina.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash