The Los Angeles Dodgers remained perfect to start the 2025 campaign, picking up a hard-fought 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers in their home opener on Thursday. Teoscar Hernandez delivered the big blow for the Dodgers, smacking a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead for Los Angeles.

With last season's American League Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, on the hill for the Tigers, they wanted him to get through Hernandez so that he could get a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Freddie Freeman. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knew that this is what his opponent would want to do, as he explained that there's a “tax” involving Hernandez that is required to get to Freeman when facing his team's lineup.

“There’s a Teoscar tax to get to Freddie a third time,’’ Roberts said before the Dodgers win over the Tigers. “It makes it tougher for a pitcher and manager to navigate (through) our lineup with Freddie facing a lefty.’’

Teoscar Hernandez, Dodgers continue hot start to 2025 campaign

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The Dodgers kicked off the 2025 campaign by sweeping the Chicago Cubs in their two-game Tokyo Series, and they kept up the momentum with this win over the Tigers. Hernandez only has two hits in his first 12 at-bats, but he's managed to make them court, as he's already racked up the aforementioned home run and four runs batted in over his first three games.

Everyone expected Los Angeles to be absolutely dominant in 2025 thanks to their loaded roster, and through three games, they have lived up to the hype. There's still a lot of work to be done, though, but Roberts' comments about Hernandez show just how deep this team is. They will look to push their record to 4-0 on the season when they face off against the Tigers in the second game of their series on Friday night.