Kiké Hernández has seen a lot of Dodgers baseball, and in the National League Championship Series, that history is part of the story again.
Ahead of Game 1, the veteran utility man opened up about his connection with Max Muncy, a relationship built through years of October pressure, deep playoff runs and two World Series heartbreaks that came before the Dodgers’ championship run. Hernández said the two have grown close because so much of the roster around them has changed since those earlier seasons.
“When you spend [time] in locker rooms year in and year out with these guys, they become part of your family,” Hernández said. “Especially when you get to play so many big games together.
Muncy, he’s one of the few ones that’s left. I’m the only one left from the ’17 World Series, and just me and Muncy from ’18, so I’m really proud of the way his career has gone, how he’s persevered and made a name for himself.”
That bond goes beyond shared memories. Muncy has become one of the Dodgers’ most dependable postseason bats, and Hernández was quick to praise the way the third baseman shows up when the games get tight.
“He’s one of the better hitters in the league, one of the most consistent power hitters in the last 10 years or so,” Hernández said. “When there’s a big game, Max is one of those guys you know you can count on.”
The numbers back up the October reputation. Before this year’s NLDS, Hernández and Muncy were tied with 16 career playoff home runs. Hernández added one more in that round, while Muncy launched three in four games and is now one homer away from becoming the seventh player ever to reach 20 postseason home runs.
Hernández, of course, still has a shot to beat him there if he can leave the yard three times before Muncy does again.
For all the talk about power, though, Hernández spent part of Sunday looking ahead to the start of the series and the pitching matchup in Game 1. The Dodgers are set to start ace Tarik Skubal against the Brewers’ presumptive NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski, setting up what should be a tense showdown between two high-end arms.
“It’s gonna be a great one, two really good pitchers going at it and a lot of power against power,” Hernández said. “It’s basically going to be whoever can take the best bats overall as a team.
It’s kind of similar to Sale vs. Yamamoto in Atlanta.”
First pitch is set for 5 p.m. PT, and Hernández will find out soon enough whether his read on Game 1 is right.
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Major League Baseballs latest CBA pitch could reshape the postseason in a way that matters a lot to clubs that routinely finish near the top of the standings. Among the ideas on the table are a shorter regular season, a longer Division Series and a bigger emphasis on playoff inventory, all of it designed to create more high-stakes October baseball and, just as clearly, more revenue.
For the Dodgers, the debate carries extra weight because they have spent recent seasons in the upper tier of the bracket, the sort of position that could turn a format change into a real advantage. If the league moves forward with giving top seeds more control over their path, it would only add to the leverage that comes with playing deep into October from a familiar perch, and the ripple effect could be felt well beyond Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
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Los Angeles, meanwhile, will answer with Tarik Skubal in Game 1, setting up a high-end pitching duel right away. For fans tracking the series from afar, the article also lays out the full NLCS and ALCS schedule along with the TV and streaming details, a useful road map as the postseason tightens and every game becomes must-see viewing. [Read more 🡒]
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Mookie Betts has reportedly chosen to stay elsewhere since 2022, and Teoscar Hernandez once left the hotel during last years NLCS because his wife was uncomfortable. Muncys reaction lands on the other end of that spectrum, the kind of shrugging confidence that fits a veteran team on the road, even if the old hotel stories keep drawing fresh attention every time the Dodgers come through Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]