Dodgers Interview: For Kiké Hernández, it’s all about belief

TORONTO — Game 7 mornings feel different, for players and fans alike. The coffee, the bus ride, the air around the cage. Kiké Hernández admitted he felt it, too, but it came out as a smile. “Everybody’s really excited,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one person in either locker room that didn’t dream as a kid about playing in a Game Seven of the World Series, and it’s here in front of us.” He called this a great series, then added the only scoreboard that matters now is tonight’s. “The World Series is going to get decided on who plays best during this game.”

He’s been here before. “I played in two Game Sevens in the NLCS and one in the World Series,” Hernández said. “That World Series one was different. I pinch hit in the second, got hit by a pitch, lined into a double play on the next pitch, and that was it for my game. I watched seven innings and felt pretty helpless. Tonight I get to play, which is exciting.” He has no plans to overthink it. “You can’t say, ‘I’ve got Game Seven experience,’ because those guys just came out of a Game Seven against Seattle,” he said. “We have to take it like any other game. We know what’s at stake. We need urgency, but we have to be patient and not try to win it in one inning. Play our game, play sound fundamental baseball, and hopefully we come out on top.”

If you’re wondering why October seems to find him, he shrugs and leans into the chaos. “It’s over a hundred postseason games now,” he said. “When else would you rather do it than in the postseason? Everything is heightened. The focus. The intensity. The electricity. You can’t compare it to a game in 162. The chaos brings out the best in me.” He even laughed at how his own wiring fits the moment. “My brain’s all over the place,” he said. “I’ve got really bad ADHD. It’s like school when you have a project for two months and do it the last day. I can stay really focused for nine innings or eighteen. I don’t know, bro. I don’t know. But it works.”

Hernández also took a second to recognize the Blue Jays’ gesture from Game 6 to honor their teammate Alex Vesia, who is still away from the team and with his family. “I didn’t notice the ‘51’ on their hats until Bassitt struck me out,” he said. “I looked up and saw it and thought, ‘Did he play with Vesia?’ Later I saw they all had it. For those guys to do that in the World Series is incredible. Life is bigger than baseball, and baseball is just a game. We appreciate what they did, regardless of what happens tonight.”

As for how a player handles Game 7 when the bullpen phone never stops ringing, he kept it simple. “You learn to control what you can control,” he said. “When you’re in the dugout, you cheer. In the box, you swing at the right pitch and try to get on base. On the bases, you run. On defense, you hope the ball gets hit to you and you make a play. You play the game and let it come to you.”

That mindset fed the three-run third in Game 6. “We had one good inning,” he said. “That’s kind of been the theme this series. We came out aggressive. If he’s struggling with command, you step back, but I’m sure he’ll pound the zone, so we have to stay aggressive and then let the game dictate the approach. What I take from last night is we got two big hits with runners in scoring position. Hopefully we do that again.”

His value shows up everywhere on the card, which is the point. “I take enormous pride in my versatility,” he said. “It’s what’s kept me in the big leagues. My bat hasn’t really been there this series, but I can impact the game in other ways. Every great defender wants the ball every pitch. That’s me.”

Then he walked through the Game 6 finish one more time, from a fielder’s sight line. “I was seven feet shallower than the card wanted because I was anticipating Jiménez hitting one through the six-hole,” Hernández said. “With Barger’s speed, I wanted to be shallow enough to charge a ground-ball base hit, keep the runner at third, keep the batter at first, and keep the double play alive.” He heard the crack before he saw the ball. “Right before the pitch, stadiums always go quiet for a split second,” he said. “I heard the bat break and got a really good jump. The ball got in the lights, so I went to where I thought it would land.” Then came the decision. “I felt the runner at second had extended too far. I gave a slight look to third to see if he was tagging, and when I saw he wasn’t, I threw to second. I didn’t have time to set my hips, so I tried to be careful with the throw. Miggy made an unbelievable pick.”

He praised the organization behind the scenes, too. “The communication between players and front office and players and coaches is different here,” he said. “They ask us about travel. Last year some of us met with the front office in the postseason and gave our point of view, which was different from what the sleep doctor suggested, and we changed it. They want us on top of our game, so they ask what we need.”

Finally, a small accessory with a big message. “The headband says ‘Believe’ because I’m a Ted Lasso fan,” he said, grinning. “The timing is right. I didn’t bring it out until the last two games.” Game 7 arrives tonight. Hernández is ready to feel the quiet beat of contact again and trust the read that follows. “You just play the game,” he said. “Let it come to you.”

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