LA PLÁTICA – Kike Hernández Opens Up About Baseball, Bad Bunny, & His Legendary Quote

Date: August 18, 2025
Hosts: Sebas (Sebastian Robles) & Josh Leyva
Guest: Kike Hernández (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Episode Overview

In this lively, candid episode, LA PLÁTICA welcomes Dodgers star Kike Hernández. The conversation dives into how Kike became a beloved representative of both Puerto Rican pride and LA’s Latino community, his influential 2020 “We just don’t give a fuck” quote, the realities of fatherhood, behind-the-scenes baseball culture, his incredible romance with Miss Puerto Rico, life with the Dodgers, Latino/Afro-Caribbean slang, and Bad Bunny’s impact on Puerto Rico. The tone is hilarious, unfiltered, and full of camaraderie and storytelling.

Core Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kike's Relationship with LA & Latino Fans

• Cultural Embrace: Kike reflects on being a Puerto Rican who became an icon for LA’s heavily Mexican/Latino fanbase.

  • “I was a fan favorite in minor leagues—like 5,000 people. But here, to see the way the fans embraced me… No words, man.” (06:30)
  • He feels a responsibility to represent Latinos (“Not a lot of Latinos on the team... So for me, it always felt like a huge responsibility to be that Latino voice for sports.” (07:40)).

• Connection to LA’s Culture:

  • Kike jokes about not having known much about the Dodgers growing up due to TV time differences in Puerto Rico, except for the legends.

2. Dodgers Energy & ‘We Just Don’t Give a F*’ Moment**

• Signature Quote: Kike discusses the now-legendary 2020 playoff quote.

  • “It felt good to say it, bro… Felt terrible the next day when I was in a lot of trouble.” (09:06)
  • The team was almost suspended for it, had to apologize—but his teammates immediately made merch of the quote. “We got hats right away... mass text from upstairs, ‘nobody’s allowed to wear the hats on the field.’” (10:39)
  • The quote summed up the team's loose, confident mentality that led to their World Series win.

• Team Chemistry: After difficult playoff series, the team bonded deeply. “There’s certain series that are so emotional... you get past and you look ahead, and there’s absolutely no way we can lose.” (11:49)

3. Kike as Father & Family Man

• Balancing Career and Family: Kike cherishes his mornings with his daughter.
  • “If I don’t wake up early and hang out with her in the morning, I don’t get to see her. So the mornings are for her.” (05:32)
  • Hosts remark on how genuine his off-field character is.

4. How Kike Met His Wife, Mariana

• Epic Modern Love Story:
  • Sees her in "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" as a bottle girl; looks her up on IMDB, realizes she’s Puerto Rican, finds her on Twitter and Instagram.
  • “At the time, she had like 15,000 followers. I was like, she’s super famous, I got no chance.” (15:08)
  • Exchanges grow from “as a fellow Puerto Rican, just wanted to say you crushed it” into real friendship, then hard-won romance after much persistence: “She never got the hint, or she pretended not to.” (19:41)
  • Eventually, Mariana asks him out. “I’m not doing any more friend dates. She’s like, ‘No, it’s a date date...’ And here we are.” (21:01)
  • Now: “Two dogs, two World Series.” (21:13)

5. On Being a Dodgers “Vibe Guy,” Strip Club Plan B, and Baseball Life

• Team Clown: Kike relishes bringing energy to the dugout—“People ask me what’s the plan B? I would have done steroids and gone to Vegas and tried out for Chippendales.” (08:05)
• Versatility & Swagger: “I feel like if you weren’t in the Dodgers… it wouldn’t be the same, bro. You bring this energy, this diversion to the team...” (08:30)

6. Cultural/Spanglish Slang and Food

• The trio swap Mexican and Puerto Rican slang—like how “popote” (Mexican: straw) has no meaning in PR, or how “papaya” means something much different in Cuba. (33:05)
• Kike shares fun, raunchy PR slang (“We call it the tostonera because el plátano [plantain] is… your banana.” (34:43)).
• Kike loves Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican food, but for date nights it’s “hand roll sushi bars... I’m a huge hand roll fan… easy to eat, you don’t need to struggle with the chopsticks.” (24:48)

7. Travel Stories & Tokyo City Series

• Japanese Baseball Culture: Kike describes playing in Tokyo with Dodgers, wild fan culture, and Shohei Ohtani’s megastar fame.
  • “With Shohei Ohtani, you stop becoming a baseball team and you’re basically the Beatles. It’s like being in a boy band...” (28:01)
• Unique Experience: Describes silent stadiums for pitching, personalized chants for every batter, similarities to Puerto Rican carnival-style baseball atmospheres.

8. Bad Bunny’s Impact & Puerto Rican Culture

• Economic & Cultural Force:
  • “He’s representing us in huge ways... his residency is wild. The day after he announced, literally, there was like 70,000 hotel rooms booked for the summer.” (39:01)
  • “He’s bringing $180 million to the Puerto Rican economy... creating jobs, bringing tourism, restaurants benefiting...” (39:28)
• Legacy & Authenticity: Bad Bunny’s music is full of PR references, old bands, and bars only locals really understand.
  • “A lot of people don’t understand the album because you need to understand what happened.” (41:08)
• Emotional resonance for Puerto Ricans seeing him live: “My sister went... it was so good, I couldn’t stop crying.” (41:44)

9. Baseball: Playoff Mentality & “Mr. October”

• Going Into ‘Sicko Mode’:
  • Kike found his playoff swagger in 2017’s NLCS, predicting home runs to his family: “Make sure you get to my grandparents’ house early because my first at bat, I’m going deep.” (48:21)
  • He delivers—hits three homers that night. “From there on, my mentality switched. I’m going to be this arrogant in October... It’s the only way it brings that out of me.” (48:56)
  • “Rich Hill said... ‘Big time players come out in big time games’... Wouldn’t that be a thing to have that be your reputation?” (46:52)
  • Being “Mr. October” comes with pressure, but “when my back’s against the wall is when I bring out the best in me.” (49:50)

10. Walk-Up Music and Team Swag

• Kike loves customizing his walk-up music—details favorite songs, why Ohtani’s and Kershaw’s are special (“We Are Young” means Kershaw’s pitching: “Everything is right in the world.” (57:40)).

11. On Life & Puerto Rico

• Recommends visiting PR for the food, music, night life (“you can do whatever you want”), vibrant people, and after-hours culture (“we don’t close out bars at 2am like they do in the States… you want to go out ‘til 7am? We do that!”) (59:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “People ask me, what’s the plan B, bro? … I would have done steroids and gone to Vegas and tried out for the Chippendales.”
  — Kike Hernández, 08:05

• “You just win the World Series, there’s so much going on… I gotta move out of my rental house and go home… but I’m glad it worked out!”
  — Kike Hernández, 04:16

• “You have this responsibility that I feel, to show what the Latino culture is all about.”
  — Kike Hernández, 07:50

• “It felt good to say [the ‘we just don’t give a fuck’ quote], bro. Felt terrible the next day in a lot of trouble.”
  — Kike Hernández, 09:06

• “I would spend my mornings with my daughter. If I don’t, I don’t get to see her.”
  — Kike Hernández, 05:32

• “With Shohei Ohtani, you’re basically the Beatles. It’s like being in a boy band.”
  — Kike Hernández, 28:01

• “He’s bringing $180 million to the Puerto Rican economy with his residency. Bringing in tourism, creating jobs…”
  — Kike Hernández, 39:28

• “Pressure when my back’s against the wall is when I bring out the best in me.”
  — Kike Hernández, 49:50

Key Timestamps for Segments

• [05:32] — Kike opens up about family and balancing baseball and daughterhood
• [06:30-08:30] — He discusses Latino identity, fan culture, and what it means to represent LA
• [09:06] — The story of the “We just don’t give a f***” World Series quote
• [13:34-21:13] — How Kike met and wooed his wife Mariana (the “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” story)
• [24:48-25:17] — Favorite LA and Latino foods; hand roll sushi obsession
• [28:01-29:32] — Life in Tokyo, Japanese baseball culture, and “being the Beatles” with Ohtani
• [39:01-41:08] — Bad Bunny’s economic and cultural influence, PR pride
• [46:52-48:56] — Kike’s playoff mentality and becoming “Mr. October”
• [57:40] — Favorite walk-up songs and what they mean to him
• [59:40] — Why you MUST go to Puerto Rico

Tone & Takeaways

The episode is funny, heartfelt, and full of Latino camaraderie, with Kike’s energy blending perfectly with Sebas and Josh’s irreverent banter. Fans get an unfiltered look behind the game: the relationships, the heritage, the self-deprecating humor, and the unique pressures of being a big-league ballplayer and Latino public figure. The stories feel personal—whether it's meeting his wife, being the team clown, or describing the living legend of Bad Bunny.

Listen if you want:

• Real talk about modern Latino identity in sports
• Inspiration, humor, and wild behind-the-scenes stories
• To understand Kike’s legendary playoff impact
• Unbeatable chemistry between guest and hosts
• A loving ode to baseball, LA, and Puerto Rico