Kiké Hernández delivers again as Dodgers advance: 'He's not afraid of the moment'

LOS ANGELES – With the Los Angeles Dodgers in limbo and their season in danger of early postseason elimination again, it was Kiké Hernández who spoke out. Years ago, as a young role player on a perennial favorite, Hernández was known as a promising goofball whose acting was as brilliant as his jokes. He was the “glue man” type who helped the Dodgers become a juggernaut in the late 2010s.

Hernández left and tried to establish himself as an everyday player before returning to a familiar place last July. Free agency made a harsh judgment on him this winter, as Hernández didn't sign with Los Angeles until weeks after the start of spring training. His $4 million contract was a drop in the bucket during the Dodgers' billion-dollar offseason. For months, Hernández's production faltered and his role evolved.

But the October version of Hernández is always changing. Hernández has twice secured this franchise a pennant in one fell swoop. When the Dodgers brought him back, it was with the version of Hernández they had in mind.

In the first three games of this National League Division Series, Hernández did not start once. He didn't play at all in Game 3, when the Dodgers fell to a 2-1 deficit against the San Diego Padres, putting another promising season at risk of a premature end.

Kiké Hernández rejected the scouting report and looked for a fastball from Yu Darvish, which proved to be smart. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Hernández gathered a group of MVPs, All-Stars and top prospects and let them have it.

“This is our only chance,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recalled Hernández saying. “He basically got everyone up to speed and saw what they were made of.”

The key, Mookie Betts said, “was to just keep fighting.” The Padres had staged a stress test against an injury-riddled Dodgers club. San Diego had irritated these Dodgers and pushed them to their limits. Now it was time to remember what gave them the best record in baseball.

The message was succinct.

F – everyone.

Three nights later, a shirtless Hernández was hoovering up Korbel and Budweiser in a madhouse he created.

October Kiké had emerged again, giving the Dodgers the lead with one hit and a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A 2-0 Dodgers victory in Game 5 only further strengthened the legacy of one of this franchise's greatest postseason protagonists. The comeback from a 1-2 deficit was complete. A best-of-seven battle against the up-and-coming New York Mets awaits you in the National League Championship Series.

Back-to-back debacles plagued the Dodgers in October. Another threatened the very foundations of what this expensive, talented collection of players would be remembered for. They invested $1.4 billion just to win fewer games than last season. A 2-1 deficit seemed to bring about a familiar ending.

They survived.

“This team,” Hernández said in a television interview, “doesn’t give anything away.”

“He could be the captain of this team,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations.

A ballclub that embodied his mantra is now eight wins away from a championship.

Before the biggest night of his baseball life seven years ago, Hernández introduced himself. Previous failures in October had gnawed at him. Old fights lingered in his mind. With the Dodgers on the verge of securing a spot in the World Series in 2017, Hernández focused on positive thoughts. What he would see. What he would say when he came over.

He hit three home runs that night.

“I haven’t looked back since,” Hernández said. The routine stuck. He introduced himself before Game 4 on Wednesday, making his first start of the series and scoring twice. On Thursday evening, before the fifth game, which was all about victory, he had another performance.

“I kept telling myself that they brought you here for a reason,” Hernández said. “They brought you here to play in October. I wanted to come back and make a run with this team because I really want to put on a parade.”

He repeated the bravery when he spoke to Friedman on the field before the game, telling the club architect, “I'm going to win you this game.”

And as the club's hitting coaches began a meeting to break down the club's plan of attack against Yu Darvish, Hernández spoke up again. Darvish's range of pitches can be fascinating. “Smart,” Shohei Ohtani said this week. “He has like 20 different pitches, 10 different throwing styles,” Max Muncy said. The Dodgers had tried to keep an eye on Darvish's countless off-speed offerings, waiting for an error and knowing that an opportunity might arise with traffic on the bases.

The scenario had played out in the second inning of Game 2 when the Dodgers loaded the bases with no one out. They managed just one run in the inning as Darvish struck out seven frames in a blowout win.

To counter in Game 5, Hernández suggested looking for a fastball. There were too many off-speed pitches to account for.

“They were pretty strong in their feelings about disagreeing with me,” Hernández said.

He wouldn't have to wait long for what he was looking for. Darvish threw a first-pitch fastball over the plate to Hernández in his first at-bat.

Hernández smashed it. A sold-out Dodger Stadium came to life. Hernández's 14th postseason home run was perhaps his most predictable.

“He’s not afraid of the moment,” hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said. “He's here. He prepares. He has gained confidence through his preparation and he trusts in that.”

“Kiké hitting a home run and making big plays is probably the least surprising thing of the night,” Gavin Lux said.

“It’s special,” Anthony Banda said. “It’s built for October.”

“Some guys are made for the moment,” Muncy said. “I don’t know what it is, but he has it.”

The second-half surge that saved Hernández's season began with a recommendation. Martín Maldonado, the longtime big league catcher and Hernández's teammate with Team Puerto Rico in the past World Baseball Classic, mentioned during a summer conversation that he and several teammates needed glasses because of vision problems that are not evident during a typical annual physical exam in spring training were determined. He urged Hernández to get checked out too.

It was worth it: Hernández was diagnosed with astigmatism in his right eye and was fitted with glasses, which he has worn ever since.

“I didn't really realize that I was seeing the shape of the field and not the twist and turn of the field,” Hernández said last month. “I don’t really know how long this has been going on. … It was such a small thing that you don't really notice in everyday life. It was hard to say.”

Kiké Hernández: “We didn’t come here to win the NL West. We came here to win the World Series.”

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 11, 2024

They gave him a new attitude and a new perspective on another frustrating season. Before the All-Star break and his decision to wear glasses full-time on the field, Hernández was hitting just .191, particularly failing against breaking balls. He then hit .274 and was back to his best form with an OPS of .821 in September, when he inserted himself back into the Dodgers' plans.

They didn't know how important this would be.

“That’s why you somehow get through the regular season with Kiké,” Roberts said. “And once you’ve done that, you know you’re getting the best player.”

A defiant chorus echoed amid the bubbling cigar smoke. As his teammates shouted his name and Hernández sprayed, a playlist played Kendrick Lamar's dissident track once, then twice.

“They don’t like us.”

The failures of October past are etched in these Dodgers' memories, especially when they face a familiar, talented division opponent in the star-studded Padres. Maybe it's the wounds that bound them.

Freddie Freeman made 14 at-bats in the series despite suffering a severe ankle sprain that would otherwise have placed him on the injured list. Miguel Rojas did not play the last two games of this series because he suffered a torn adductor muscle that he had been playing with for months. Their pitching has been decimated by injuries. A division race made them tougher.

“We have a lot of 'FU' in us,” Hernández said. “We have a lot of people, a bunch of grown men who want to win at all costs, no matter what, no matter what it looks like.”

The impending elimination paled in comparison. Before Game 4 on Wednesday, jokes were circulating in the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park. Controversial conversations leading up to Game 5, which was all about the winner, included rounds of mini-golf.

“Everyone just said don’t worry,” Muncy said. “We're going to win tonight. … We would win the game, there’s no doubt about it.”

Muncy admitted that this actually brought relief. Teoscar Hernández added a home run of his own to Kikés in the seventh. Behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a parade of Dodgers relievers, they shut out the Padres for the second straight time and finished the series with 24 straight scoreless innings.

While he enjoyed the celebration, Muncy took Hernández's message a step further.

“We know who we are,” Muncy said. “We’re the best damn team in baseball and we’re out there to prove it.”

(Photo by Kiké Hernández: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)