Teoscar Hernandez’s $23.5 million offseason bet has been a win-win.

Hernandez has maintained his bona fides as a potent middle-of-the-order bat after signing a one-year free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Dodgers have prospered with the addition of a short-term complement to an offense featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.

At the halfway point of the 2024 season, Hernandez is on pace to equal or better the most productive seasons of his nine-year career, and he is doing it exactly where he wants to be.

“I thought the best option for me to win a championship was here,” Hernandez said after a four-game series in Colorado in which he had six hits and four RBIs, highlighted by game wining three-run homer in the Dodgers’ seven-run ninth inning of an 11-9 win Tuesday.

Teoscar Hernandez reacts after his grand slam against the New York Yankees in a potential World … [+]

Teoscar Hernandez’s $23.5 million offseason bet has been a win-win.

Hernandez has maintained his bona fides as a potent middle-of-the-order bat after signing a one-year free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Dodgers have prospered with the addition of a short-term complement to an offense featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.

At the halfway point of the 2024 season, Hernandez is on pace to equal or better the most productive seasons of his nine-year career, and he is doing it exactly where he wants to be.

“I thought the best option for me to win a championship was here,” Hernandez said after a four-game series in Colorado in which he had six hits and four RBIs, highlighted by game wining three-run homer in the Dodgers’ seven-run ninth inning of an 11-9 win Tuesday.

“Obviously I want three years, four years, whatever,” he added of a perfect-world contract scenario, “but for me right now, it just about winning and trying to be a better player, and I thought this was the best opportunity.

“At the end of the year, if I stay healthy, next year I’m going to have a job. But for me right now it is just about winning.”

As much as a $23.5 million contract (with $8.5 million deferred) can fly under the radar, Hernandez’s did. The pursuit of Shohei Ohtani was the big story before he Dodgers signed him to a 10-year, $700 million free agent deal Dec. 9.