As the Dodgers get set to open the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Max Muncy finds himself on the doorstep of something only a handful of players in baseball history have reached.
The veteran third baseman has 19 career postseason home runs. One more would put him at 20, a club that includes just six names: Manny Ramirez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Schwarber, George Springer, Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter.
That possibility came up Sunday when Dodgers Nation’s Noel Sanchez asked Muncy about the milestone, and he didn’t dodge the significance.
“I consider those guys the absolute best in the history of baseball so to be in the same conversation, it’s really really cool,” he told Noel.
Still, Muncy was quick to bring the conversation back to the bigger picture for Los Angeles, which is chasing a third straight title.
He said he would rather that 20th homer come in a winning moment than as empty production in a lopsided loss.
“It’d be really cool,” he said. “Hopefully, if I do that, it’s a home run that’s allowing us to win the game.
My personal stats have never been important to me when it comes to that. It’s always been about how many rings can we get, how many wins can we stack.”
There’s also a small twist in the Dodgers’ internal race to that milestone. Kiké Hernández is already up to 17 postseason homers after his two-run shot against the Atlanta Braves, which means he and Muncy were both sitting on 16 before the NLDS.
Muncy jumped ahead with three home runs in that series, but Hernández is still within striking distance. If Hernández were to somehow bang out three homers before Muncy gets his next one, he’d become the seventh player in that 20-homer postseason group instead.
Hernández, who has built a reputation for showing up in October, framed his own playoff power in a similar way when asked about it.
“It’s something I take a lot of pride in, but don’t really think about it too much,” he said.
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