Another deep Dodgers postseason run might put Kiké Hernandez in legendary tier

It wouldn't be Los Angeles Dodgers postseason baseball without some heroics from Kiké Hernandez. Like Clark Kent rushing into a phone booth and emerging as Superman, Hernandez transforms seemingly every season right around the time the calendar flips to October.

On a star-studded roster that includes the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman, it would be easy for the Swiss army knife to get lost in the shuffle. After all, he finished his 2025 regular season with a replacement-level performance, tallying -0.1 fWAR.

Despite those struggles during the 2025 campaign, the Dodgers lost no sleep leaving Michael Conforto off the postseason roster, knowing full well they had an ace up their sleeve with Hernandez roaming left field ... or any other position they may need help at.

That's because the grizzled vet now has a long and established track record of producing in October. Hernandez has now played in 87 playoff games, accumulating 262 plate appearances and posting a .283/.356/.524 line with 15 homers. His .880 career postseason OPS makes him look like an All-Star, especially in comparison to his career regular season mark of a pedestrian .707.

It's almost as if he becomes a different player entirely once the brightest lights come on, making it appear as if Los Angeles is able to make another superstar materialize out of thin air just in time for the year's biggest moments. If he keeps this up, Hernandez might just achieve legendary status.

If the Dodgers make another deep postseason run, Kiké Hernandez might just ascend to legendary status

The Dodgers made short work of the Cincinnati Reds. Despite being forced to play in the Wild Card round, their efforts showed that the team is more formidable than that designation may appear, with them emerging as the only one in their cohort to dispatch their opponent in the minimum two games.

Outscoring the Reds 18-9 in the two-game set might make it seem like the Dodgers rolled over an inferior opponent, but the contests were not without tense moments.

Game 2 saw Yoshinobu Yamamoto without his customary dominant stuff through most of the night, though the ace was able to rally when it mattered most. It was a clutch double to right-center by Hernandez that brought the game even after the Reds had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, allowing Yamamoto the opportunity to (mostly) settle down.

The heroic moment came on the heels of a 2-for-3 performance in the series opener for Hernandez, further proving that he somehow finds another gear when the games count the most.

The Dodgers will take on the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. The Phillies might represent their biggest challenge in their quest to capture a second consecutive World Series trophy.

Given how otherworldly Hernandez has proven to be in the postseason, the deeper the Dodgers go in the playoffs, the more likely Hernandez will get an opportunity to cement himself as not just a Dodgers' playoff legend, but one of the greatest postseason performers in the game's history.