MLB News: Is Fernando Tatis Jr. the Latest Victim of the Dairy Queen Curse?

After recently getting busted for using PEDs, Padres star Fernando Tatis JR.has become the fourth face of Dairy Queen to have a season go sideways.

Once news of Fernando Tatis Jr. testing positive for using PED's broke the internet, baseball fans did not waste a second before creating memes and also piecing together an oddly coincidental chain of events. 

Back in April, the MLB had agreed to partner with Dairy Queen and feature star players such as Bryce Harper, Tim Anderson, Cody Bellinger, and Tatis Jr. However, they might not have as easy of a time asking players to star in these commercials next year. 

USA Today Insider, Bob Nightingale laid out the facts in a hilarious tweet fit for a summer Saturday full of baseball:

The Curse of Dairy Queen? They selected 4 players this season to market their ice cream and sandwiches:

Bryce Harper: Broken thumb, out since June 26.

Tim Anderson: Broken finger, out 6 weeks.

Cody Bellinger: Hitting .210 with 668 OPS.

Fernando Tatis: Suspended for PED use.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 13, 2022

Yesterday, the news about Tatis' clostebol use became public and the Padres shortstop was served with an 80 game suspension. He was the most recent of the four to suffer from the curse including one beloved Dodger. 

Since his debut advertisement with Dairy Queen back in May, Cody Bellinger has put together one of the worst performing summers of his 6 years in the majors. 

The 2019 NL MVP has gone 78-for-371 over the 102 games he's appeared in and has reached home only 54 times this season. His current .210 batting average is significantly lower than his first three years in the major leagues where he slashed .260/ .267/ .305.

Although Bellinger's underperformance slump is just considered a result of his shoulder surgery back in 2020, some have joked that it could have also been the consequence of indulging in Dairy Queen's "sweet treats." DQ must also be to blame for Tatis' PED's scandal too then right?

#Ad The official treat of @MLB is
officially delicious @DairyQueen@MLBPlayersInc pic.twitter.com/ACkdQsDuHm

— Cody Bellinger (@Cody_Bellinger) May 12, 2022

While Bellinger seems to finally be breaking out of his underperformance slump and Harper and Anderson are still tied down to the injured list, Tatis' incident was just the cherry on top with a side of suspension to round out the lucky group of four.