There's something about the month of October that flips a switch inside Los Angeles Dodgers utilityman Kike Hernandez's head. Hernandez has earned a reputation for being one of the best postseason performers in MLB history, especially relative to his regular-season production. And on Tuesday, in the ever-crucial Game 3 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves with the series tied at 1-1, Hernandez worked his magic yet again.

Facing Braves ace Chris Sale, Hernandez was undaunted. With one runner on and just one out in the top of the fourth inning, Hernandez launched a 1-0 changeup from Sale that was right around the knees to deep left field to open the scoring for the Dodgers en route to what was an eventual 3-0 victory to give them a 2-1 series lead.

That long ball was the 17th home run of Hernandez's postseason career, which has him tied for ninth all-time in big-league history. Just to put in greater perspective how much of a beast the October version of the Dodgers utilityman is, OptaSTATS on X pointed out that Hernandez is the only player in MLB history to have over 10% of his career home runs, regular season and postseason combined, come in the playoffs.

Hernandez entered the night with 150 career long balls (regular season and postseason combined), giving him an average of around 12 long balls per season through his 13 years in the big leagues.

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He has a career OPS of .706 in the regular season, which is nothing to scoff at considering his defensive versatility. But in the postseason, that number rises to .832, making him a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.

The Dodgers know just how valuable he can be under the postseason's bright lights, and he showed that he hasn't quite lost his touch yet even though he's already 35. It's not that big of a stretch to say that LA may not be on track to compete for a third-consecutive World Series title if it weren't for his contributions.