The Los Angeles Dodgers and star utility player Kiké Hernandez both seem to want to reunite for Hernandez’s 13th season in Major League Baseball next season, but there are some complications that might prevent the deal from getting done.

Namely, Hernandez — who turns 35 next season — is coming off of a major surgery on his left elbow. Hernandez injured the elbow sliding into home plate in May, and spent over a month on the injured list before playing through the pain through the postseason, causing the muscle to detach from the bone.

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Hernandez’s return date is not yet known, but he posted on Instagram that he would be missing the opportunity to represent Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, which wraps up just a week before the start of the MLB regular season.

Hernandez has consistently shown up for the Dodgers in the postseason as a key contributor in each of the team’s three World Series runs over the past six seasons. In the 2025 postseason, Hernandez hit .250 with a .649 OPS and seven RBIs. His 92 postseason games played for the Dodgers outranks any other player in franchise history.

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“October Kiké is something pretty special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Oct. 1. “And the track record speaks for itself. Throughout history, he’s one of the best throughout history of the postseason.”

According to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, there is “mutual interest” between the Dodgers and Hernandez to team up in 2026, although Hernandez’s injury — which will likely keep him out of spring training and could result in him starting the season on the injured list — could impact the odds of a contract being worked out between the two parties.

Regardless of what happens, the love between Hernandez and the city of Los Angeles is real.

“From the moment I got to L.A., it was a humbling experience for me to have a fanbase that embraces me and loves me the way that they do,” Hernandez said during free agency last season via The Shop. “The support. I’m a guy that I’m probably a better player than what the back of my card says numbers-wise. I bring more to the table than my stats, and the way that they love me, you’d think that I am the best player on the field each and every day I step on a baseball field.”

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