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Kiké Hernández Salutes Blue Jays for Classy World Series Gesture for Alex Vesia

Vesia has missed the World Series due to a "deeply personal family matter."

Tim Capurso

Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland and the rest of the Toronto bullpen wore Vesia's No. 51 on their caps as a tribute to the Dodgers reliever.
Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland and the rest of the Toronto bullpen wore Vesia's No. 51 on their caps as a tribute to the Dodgers reliever. / Screengrab Twitter @JomboyMedia
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Life is bigger than baseball.

So with Dodgers pitcher Alex Vesia sidelined for the World Series due to a "deeply personal family matter,” his fellow Los Angeles relievers have been playing with the No. 51, Vesia‘s uniform number, written on their caps to honor the relief pitcher. But it wasn‘t just the Dodgers.

The Blue Jays bullpen, in solidarity with its Dodgers counterpart, also donned the No. 51 on their World Series caps during Los Angeles‘s Game 6 victory.

And the gesture was not lost on the Dodgers.

"I didn't notice until [Chris] Bassitt—actually after Bassitt struck me out and then I was looking up at the board to see the replay, and that's when I saw that he had 51," Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernández said. "And instead of being mad that I struck out, I was kind of going back to the dugout thinking, 'Did Bassitt play with Vesia at some point?' And then after the game I saw that everybody had them."

The gesture clearly meant a lot to Hernández and the Dodgers.

"For those guys to do that, it's incredible," Hernández said. "They're trying to win a World Series, but they understand that this is—life is bigger than baseball, and baseball‘s just a game. For them to do that with the stakes—where we were at with the stakes, hat‘s off to them. And I want them to know that we appreciate them.

"Regardless of what happens tonight, we appreciate what they did."

Vesia was left off the Dodgers’ World Series roster

The Dodgers had said as part of a statement that Vesia, who appeared in 68 games for the Dodgers in the 2025 regular season and another seven contests in the postseason, "is away from the team as he and his wife Kayla navigate a deeply personal family matter."

The veteran lefthander was one of the Dodgers‘s most reliable relievers this season, posting a 3.02 ERA and 0.99 WHIP while recording 80 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings pitched.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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