Teoscar Hernández’s career year for Dodgers carrying into World Series
LOS ANGELES – Teoscar Hernández already has a World Series ring, but no one really dreams of getting a ring the way he did.
The Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder spent much of the 2017 season in the minor leagues, playing one big league game for the Houston Astros before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays midway through the season.
Receiving a World Series ring with the team that signed him out of the Dominican Republic and developed him might be meaningful, but it would leave anyone wanting more.
Hernández is on the brink of more after hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer off Carlos Rodon in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers are up 2-0 on the Yankees in the series and Hernández seems to have hit his stride again after going just 2 for 22 in the NLCS.
Hernández is coming off a career year with the Dodgers, having posted his best marks in some key areas, including home runs with 33. His 137 OPS+ is the highest since 2020 and second highest of his career, and he became an All-Star for the second time.
The Dodgers are batting him cleanup and he’s managed to clean up in the series, going 3 for 8 with the two-run homer. Whether it’s the way he’s been pitched, his approach against the Yankees or just pure luck, Hernández has always slugged against New York. His 17 regular-season home runs are the third most against any opponent (23 against Boston and 22 against Tampa Bay). Six seasons in the same devision will allow a player to pick up on tendencies from opposing pitchers.
The game was tied at 1 in the bottom of the third. Rodon gave up a second-inning homer to NLCS MVP Tommy Edman before Juan Soto countered with his own off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the top of the third.
Rodon got the first two outs of the inning before Mookie Betts extended it with a single to left field, bringing up Hernández. The left-hander threw him two fastballs, the first one well above the zone for ball one, and the second right over the heart of the plate. He barreled it up, smoking it 392 feet over the right-center field fence at nearly 108 MPH for his third postseason homer this month.
Freddie Freeman then hit his second of the series to keep the two-out rally going. The three runs were enough separation from the Yankees that they couldn’t come back late in the game when they made a push. The Dodgers won 4-2.
The offseason acquisition of Hernández, a former Seattle Mariner, has been huge for the Dodgers. Adding him to a haul that included Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto turned the Dodgers into the super team they aspired to become.
Hernández and his agent, Rafa Nieves, sought a three-year deal last winter but when that didn’t come, they looked for a contending team. Nieves posted a recap on X after the NLCS, saying he earned more money on the one-year contract than he would have with a three-year deal with bonuses, a home run derby win and some various tax benefits.
Now, he’ll be a free agent again after his best year .