Former Seattle Mariners Slugger Reacts to Winning NLCS With Los Angeles Dodgers
The World Series is set. The two most storied franchises in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, will meet for the 12th time ever in the October Classic.
Most of the attention will be paid to the Dodgers' likely National League MVP Shohei Ohtani taking on the Yankees' likely American League MVP Aaron Judge.
But for Seattle Mariners fans, they'll likely be paying attention to a former slugger that is just one year removed from playing in the Pacific Northwest.
Teoscar Hernandez went 2-for-4 in Los Angeles' pennant-clinching 10-5 win against the New York Mets on Sunday. He had an RBI and scored three times.
Hernandez didn't have a hit in the five NLCS games prior to Sunday. But he did reach base seven times due to getting walked.
Hernandez signed a one-year, $23.5 million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason after not being extended a qualifying offer from Seattle.
Hernandez reacted to making the World Series in a postgame interview with MLB Network's Siera Santos:
"The best decision I made in my career was to come here because I know this team wins, I like to win and here we are going to the World Series."
"The best decision I made in my career was to come here because I know this team wins, I like to win and here we are going to the #WorldSeries." - Teoscar Hernández@Dodgers | @SieraSantos pic.twitter.com/vRf3uQqwlG
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 21, 2024
Hernandez hit .258 with 26 home runs and 93 RBIs in his lone year with the Mariners in 2023.
Hernandez topped all three of those numbers in 2024 and hit .272 with 33 homers and 99 RBIs during the regular season with Los Angeles.
There's an argument to be had that Hernandez has been the Dodgers' second-best player this year after Ohtani.
And he'll have a chance to continue to prove that in Game 1 of the World Series at 5:08 p.m. PT on Friday in Los Angeles.
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