24 reasons Kiké Hernandez is better than your favorite player

For fans of eight teams (and, for a quick minute early on, 10) the postseason is the best part of the baseball calendar. The players you’ve grown attached to throughout the regular season get to shine, and maybe even some late August call-ups get to be the heroes of a tight series and be forever beloved by the fan base.

It’s a chance for electric personalities, talented players, and unlikely stars truly emerge. So for every playoff team, we’re picking one of the most exciting players to watch and explaining why we love them so much. Here’s why we love Kiké Hernandez.

1. What kind of site would we be if we didn’t start with the overalls?

2. When a joking move about his own short stature from 2017 went viral in the dumbest way possible this season, and everyone immediately knew Kiké’s intentions were the exact opposite of that tweet. Sign of a true gem.

3. That he posted a clearly promotional Instagram about going to Cirque du Soleil, but you know he was also genuinely excited to see the show.

4. That time he told us he was thinking of using Chase Is My Daddy as a Players Weekend nickname “because ‘daddy’ sounds better. There’s a lot of moms that like him out here.”

5. He looks just as comfortable in a hockey jersey as he does in a baseball uniform.

6. Just his general sense of humor about life.

7. Literally every joke about Chase Utley being old he’s ever told. All of them. Every last one is a reason to love him. But also the sincerity.

8. When he pitched in the 16th inning of a tie game and his windup looked like this.

9. When he then gave himself an “L” for that game.

10. That he admitted he’ll be taking those engagement photo overalls on his honeymoon so he can work on his tan. And he won’t be wearing a shirt under them on that occasion.

11. That he gave us this endlessly useful reaction GIF.

12. When he described Clayton Kershaw’s farts as being able to kill a person and didn’t even seem uncomfortable saying it.

13. That he makes Britney Spears references.

14. He promised his mom he’d hit a home run during a game in last year’s playoffs ... and kept his promise by hitting three.

15. The ... uh ... use of tongue in his Yasiel Puig impression.

16. His A+ Chase Utley impression.

17. His response to Braves commentators getting bent out of shape about the Dodgers’ “casual” batting practice attire was coming up with a BP outfit idea of his own.

18. His use of the hashtag #StirrupLife.

19. When he had this perfect summation of the Yasiel Puig experience.

“Obviously, he can rub some people the wrong way. He loves the cameras. But he’s on my team, on my side. So if he keeps playing the way he’s playing, he can do whatever he wants. I don’t care if he gets naked out there.’’

20. His dugout dancing.

21. That he can never fully contain his joy for life.

22. At one point, he used the yodeling Walmart kid as his walkup music.

23. That this isn’t the first time he’s pulled this bit, nor will it be the last.

24. The way he looks up after this (unnecessary) slide into home.