Why Does the Padres Hype Video Get You So Hyped? It’s the Hugs

We need to talk about these hype videos. Every team now releases a hype video on Opening Day to get their fan base excited. They’ve got dramatic, oversaturated video clips and dramatic, over-compressed music. They’ve got quick cuts and showy edits. For some reason, they also have a lot of shots of players just sitting in a yellow car, but that's not the important part. These videos use every cheap trick imaginable to tug at your heartstrings and then plunge a syringe of pure adrenaline into your heart. Over on Bluesky, Peter Labuza compiled 11 of them, and I don’t recommend that you watch all in a row. I really don’t. It’s a lot of drama to take. But I did watch them all. I am on the floor. I am pounding my fist. I am weeping uncontrollably. My neighbors have called the police.

Here's the Padres’ video, which continues the For the Faithful slogan. Prepare to get hyped.

I’ve watched this video a dozen times now and I’ve figured out what makes it so powerful. Sure, it’s the music and the shouting and the quick cuts and bright colors. But the real key is the emotions. Once the beat drops and we thankfully leave behind all those weird shots of the Padres sitting in the taxi from Crazy Taxi, every clip is either a great play or a celebration. In fact, in the 31 seconds of actual baseball footage that make up the heart of the video, there are 31 different celebrations. I know because I took screenshots of every single one and counted.

There is one fireworks display. There are two Gatorade baths. There are three bat flips. There are four pumped-up pitchers. There are five hugs. There are seven home runs and subsequent home run celebrations. The baseball season is six months long, and this video found the most exciting 31 seconds from it. I did the math: That means they made a video out of the most exciting two hundred-thousands of a percent of the 2024 season. They threw out 99.9998% of the season just to get these. No wonder I just punched through a brick wall like the Incredible Hulk.

Let me hit you with a couple highlights. Here’s the Padres destroying the soul of the Dodgers. Look at the stunned guy on the bottom right. Look at the two guys in the top corners, both of them with their heads in their hands. Drink it in. These are the good times, people. 

The best moments, though, are the ones weren’t actually packed with heart-pounding drama. Somebody just slipped them in and hoped that we wouldn’t notice in all the excitement. For example, here’s Mike Shildt giving Manny Machado a big old hug, and Manny Machado looking slightly confused about what’s going on and why.

But it’s not just Machado. Look at the stands. They’re already half empty. Everybody’s just heading out to the exit. This game ended a while ago. A groundskeeper is busy raking the dirt in the background. There's a hose on the field over by home plate. Sure, this is a celebratory hug, but it’s not happening in the heat of the moment. It's just Mike Shildt being a hugger. You can’t fool us, Padres.

But the real winner is this second hug between Dylan Cease and Joe Musgrove. Don’t get me wrong, this is a celebratory hug too. In fact, it came on July 24, after Cease no-hit the Nationals in Washington. But once again, look around. The field is completely empty. The stands are empty too, aside from a handful of people at the railings hoping for autographs.

On the other hand, this is one serious hug. It started with a double high five (known in the business as a high 10), and the world’s strongest embrace. Look at Musgrove just burying his face in Cease’s shoulder. You know those five o’clock shadows are bristling against each other like crazy. There’s some serious nuzzling going on. The Padres are lucky this hug didn't start a brush fire. Ok, sorry, I’m crying again. The point is: go Padres.