Teoscar Hernández has been a central figure in all three Dodgers postseason games so far on a few fronts. The right fielder made two misplays in right field, one in each of the last two games, that led to extra runs allowed. But in each game he has made up for it at the plate.
In Game 1 of the wild card series against the Reds, Hernández hit two home runs, including a three-run home run that broke the game open. In Game 2, his two-run double turned a three-run lead into five. In Game 1 of the National
League Division Series against the Phillies, Hernández hit the game-winning three-run home run in the seventh inning.
Hernández has multiple RBI in three straight games this postseason, tying the longest Dodgers streak for one postseason, along with Freddie Freeman in the last three games of last year’s World Series, Juan Uribe in the NLDS and NLCS in 2013, and Dusty Baker in the 1977 NLCS. Hernández also drove in two runs in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, making him the only Dodger with multiple RBI in four consecutive postseason games.
Through three games, Hernández this postseason has five hits in 14 at-bats (.357) with nine RBI. That’s already the most runs batted in by any Dodger through the first four games of the postseason, let alone three. Gil Hodges in 1956 for Brooklyn drove in eight runs in the first four games of the World Series, and Dusty Baker in 1977 also drove in eight runs in the Dodgers’ first four games, which was the previous Dodgers high-water mark through four postseason games.
In MLB postseason history, only two players had more RBI through the first three games of one postseason — Nomar Garciaparra for the Red Sox in 1998 and Reggie Sanders for the 2005 Cardinals each drove in 10 runs in the first three games of their Division Series.
In Dodgers postseason history, they’ve hit 37 three-run home runs, including the two by Hernández this year in Games 1 of the wild card round and NLDS. They are 27-10 (.730) in those games.
It turns out, hitting three-run home runs are beneficial to team success. Who knew?
