Teoscar Hernández puts ball in Dodgers' court over his future after 2024

The Dodgers took two out of three games from the Yankees this weekend, and the whole series felt like an instant classic. The Dodgers had a little bit of everything — some great pitching, a lot of big power — and the Yankees, despite losing the series, weren't too shabby either (Aaron Judge hit three home runs). Both teams, who lead their respective divisions and feel like shoo-ins to make the postseason, definitely seemed like they were treating things like they were a little more serious than your average regular season series.

Despite the presence of Judge and Shohei Ohtani and even another few of this own teammates, Teoscar Hernández walked away from Yankee Stadium the king of New York. He was responsible for the game-winning double in extras during Game 1, and a grand slam with a home run trot for the ages that all but eliminated the Yankees' hopes of winning Game 2.

Even in Game 3, which the Dodgers dropped, he capped off the weekend with a third home run, his 16th of the season, to lead LA's hitters in homers. All told, he saw 17 total bases and drove in nine runs.

Hernández's contract is only set to keep him in LA through 2024, but after the kind of weekend he had, it's no surprise that there are calls to keep him for much longer. Per Bill Ladson of MLB.com, Hernández said that he "would love to stay," effectively telling the Dodgers it's their move.

Teoscar Hernández wants to stay with Dodgers after huge weekend against the Yankees

Hernández made some kind of re-up on his contract (one year, $23.5 million, $8.5 of that in deferrals) look like the obvious choice after his weekend. While there was excitement when he came over to the Dodgers from the Mariners in free agency, he was overshadowed by his teammates' mammoth contracts and extensions and continues to be overshadowed by their batting averages and OPSes (Hernández is fifth in the former and fourth in the latter).

However, he now leads the team in homers and RBI and is batting .308 with the bases loaded. All of that and Hernández is still the Dodgers' No. 5 or 6 hitter (depending on when Max Muncy is healthy), and before Muncy's injury, he was carrying the bottom of the lineup on his back.

The Dodgers have a lot of money, and they shouldn't start penny pinching now. Keeping Hernández seems like it'd just be a win-win situation at this point: Hernández wants to stay, and the Dodgers should want to keep him after the year he's been having.