LOS ANGELES — There are two versions of Kiké Hernandez.
There is the regular-season version. That guy plays from April to September and has a career batting average of .236 with a .707 OPS. He has made a nice career for himself as a utility player but has never made an All-Star team.
Then there is October Kiké. That player has hit .283 with an .880 OPS and 15 home runs in 87 postseason games – including three home runs in Game 5 of the 2017 National League Championship Series and a pinch-hit, game-tying home run in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS.
That was the guy the Dodgers had in mind when they brought Hernandez back via trade in July 2023 then re-signed him to one-year deals each of the past two Februarys.
“I know they brought me here for these type of moments. It sucks for 162 games that it didn’t go well. But once we get here, it doesn’t really matter,” said Hernandez, who hit just .203 during a regular season marred by a left elbow injury.
“The beautiful thing about the postseason is that once we get to the postseason, everything starts at zero and nothing really matters about the 162. … You can have a bad year and you flip the script and you start over in the postseason, you have a good postseason, help the team win, we win it all, and nobody ever remembers what you did in the regular season. Everybody remembers what happened in the playoffs.”
Having the reputation as a clutch player in the postseason “feels great,” Hernandez said. But being on teams that have reached the postseason 10 times in his 12 major-league seasons has given him the opportunity to build that reputation.
“I’ve been blessed to be on the right team at the right time,” Hernandez said. “Being a good postseason player is kind of an individual thing, but not really. If you’re on a team that doesn’t make the playoffs, you can’t be a postseason player.
“I just happen to be on a lot of really good teams, and I’ve been fortunate enough to get a lot of chances, and things have gone my way. But like I’ve said before, I’ve had some postseasons where it hasn’t gone my way, and it feels terrible. You go into the offseason and you think about it over and over.”
The key to performing in the postseason, he said, is realizing “nothing matters but today.”
“You try to take it one day at a time,” he said. “Once the game starts, you try to take it one pitch at a time. During a game, you never know which run is going to win you a game.
“In the postseason, I feel like you never know what pitch will win you a game. That mindset of taking it one day at a time, one pitch at a time, is what allows me to quiet the noise and do what I have to do.”
EDMAN ANKLE
The Dodgers are handling utility man Tommy Edman with care after he aggravated his ankle injury during the final week of the regular season.
Edman started at second base in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds and came out in the sixth inning when the Dodgers built a big lead. He was not in the lineup for Game 2 and is not an option to play the outfield.
“Tommy has been trying to battle to stay upright,” Manager Dave Roberts said.
Miguel Rojas got the Game 2 start at second base instead of Edman, who went on the injured list twice during the regular season with the recurring ankle injury.
MANAGER CHURN
It has been a rough week for managers of teams that didn’t make the postseason. The Angels (Ron Washington), Minnesota Twins (Rocco Baldelli), Texas Rangers (Bruce Bochy), Atlanta Braves (Brian Snitker) and San Francisco Giants (Bob Melvin) have all announced plans to change managers this week.
Roberts is now the second-most senior manager in MLB. He was hired in November 2015. Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash was hired a year earlier.
“They were all, in different forms, mentors. And I’ve taken a piece of each one of those guys. I really have,” Roberts said of the group of managers fired or stepping down this week, plus his good friend Bud Black who was fired by the Colorado Rockies earlier in the season. “They’re great baseball men. They love the game of baseball, and they’ve impacted the game in a positive way.
“It’s sort of all … a changing of the guard, where guys have been around for a long time and you’re getting some new blood, some new younger managers. It’s kind of the circle of life, I guess – how about that one?”
Reds manager Terry Francona came out of retirement to take the Reds job at age 66 this season.
“I don’t care what their ages are, probably because I’ve been doing this so long and I know how hard it can be, and I know how kind of devastating it can be when you do lose your job – it’s not just you, it’s your family, it affects a lot of things – your heart goes out to people,” he said of this week’s changes.
“Whether you want to beat their brains out when you’re playing them or not. Because there’s some really good people and there’s some really good friends. That’s just the nature of our game. It happens. That’s not the fun part of it.”
ALSO
Right-handers Michael Kopech and Ben Casparius threw live batting practice to hitters on Wednesday afternoon. Both could be options for a potential NL Division Series roster. The Dodgers carried just 11 pitchers for the short series against the Reds but are expected to carry more for the best-of-five NLDS round should they advance. Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Banda will likely be added for the NLDS.
UP NEXT
Game 3 (if nec.): Reds (LHP Andrew Abbott, 10-7, 2.87 ERA) at Dodgers (TBA), Thursday, 6:08 p.m., ESPN, 570 AM