LOS ANGELES — Bad Bunny’s words echoed over the Dodger Stadium loudspeakers as Kiké Hernández stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the fourth inning with the tying run on base.
Walking on the moon, Michael Jackson/Mr. October, Reggie Jackson.
And sure enough, just as he has so many times before in the postseason, Hernández came through.
“October Kiké is something pretty special,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And the track record speaks for itself. Throughout history, he’s one of the best throughout history of the postseason.”
On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Hernández swung on a four-seamer in the upper outside corner of the zone and lined it into the gap in right field for a double as Max Muncy came around to score for Hernández’s 36th career postseason RBI, tying Freddie Freeman for 10th most among active players.
Hernández himself scored on the next at-bat off a blooper from Miguel Rojas that dropped just fair in right field to give the Dodgers the lead. He also sparked what would become a four-run sixth inning with a leadoff single as the Dodgers took full control in their eventual 8-4 series-clinching win over the Reds in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card.
“It feels great,” Hernández said about finishing off the sweep. “Going into it, we knew they were a dangerous team. They have a really good starting pitcher, a sneaky good bullpen and some grinders that can put the ball in play. They’re a really fast team, catch the ball and do the fundamentals well.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
The Dodgers found themselves in an early hole after a fielding error from Teoscar Hernández in which a fly ball that would’ve been the third out deflected off his glove. The Reds capitalized and took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
If Game 1 was about the Dodgers’ power on full display, Game 2 was more of a death by a thousand paper cuts. They started chipping away in the third with an RBI single from Mookie Betts to cut the deficit in half and Max Muncy led off the next inning with a base hit of his own.
The table was set for “October Kiké” to do his thing.
“That was huge,” Roberts said. “Kiké is obviously an energy-giver. When he’s playing — playing well — guys feed off of that.”
But just a few weeks ago, Hernández wasn’t even sure if he’d be playing at all this October. He played in just 93 games this season — his fewest since 2022 — and missed over a month with left elbow inflammation. There was a point where Hernández thought he was done for the season.
Even when he was on the field, Hernández struggled. He slashed .203/.255/.366. His .621 OPS was his lowest in nine years. It wasn’t until Muncy sat the team’s final four regular season games with a leg bruise that Hernández was able to get some consistent at-bats against right-handed pitching.
Still, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman kept Hernández’s October track record in mind when he and Roberts finalized the Wild Card roster. The focus and energy he brings, his defensive capabilities and his ability to slow things down in big moments all helped Friedman and Roberts feel comfortable betting on him.
“I know they brought me here for these type of moments,” Hernández said. “It sucks that for 162 games, it didn’t really go well. But once we get here, it doesn’t really matter.”
The beauty of the postseason for Hernández lies in how it can completely flip the script of what happened through 162 games. You can have a bad year and completely start over in the postseason. Make big plays, help your team win, and the narrative about a player is turned upside down. The opposite can also be true.
October makes legacies, but it can also break them.
“Nobody ever remembers what you did in the regular season,” Hernández said. “Everybody remembers what happened in the playoffs.”
