Grimace? The Playoff pumpkin? OMG? None of that was enough to contain the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the NLCS. Perhaps a cameo appearance from the Hawk Tuah girl could have tipped the balance in the New York Mets’ favor.

Although Walker Buehler only logged four innings of work, he produced a career-high 18 swings and misses and didn’t allow a run. The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead while he was on the mound, then extended it to 4-0 in the sixth after manager Dave Roberts went to the bullpen.

And who else but Kiké Hernandez to deliver another clutch moment? The October machine hit a two-run homer off Mets reliever Reed Garrett to build on his postseason resume. After hitting a 1-2 count with two outs, Hernandez sent one out 380 feet to left center field on a cold evening in Queens.

The production he provides for the Dodgers at the bottom of the lineup will be one of the biggest difference makers this postseason. And of course, we can’t forget the vintage showboating of the Dodgers legend.

Kiké Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani lift Dodgers with huge home runs in NLCS Game 3

The Mets continued to draw visitors to base, but were unable to capitalize. They would later regret it when Hernandez recorded his second goal of the night to extend the eighth inning for LA and turn the lineup around.

That set the stage for Shohei Ohtani, who was mired in an 0-for-22 slump before his fifth at-bat of the night. His 0-for-19 streak heading into Game 3 prompted reporters to ask manager Dave Roberts if he would consider moving Ohtani lower in the lineup.

The answer was clearly “no” and Ohtani promptly ended that discussion with a three-run homer off Tylor Megill to silence Citi Field.

That made it a 7-0 game, allowing Roberts to take his foot off the accelerator with his relievers. That will help the bullpen immensely for the rest of the series, especially with this stretch of three straight games and Roberts leaning on his relievers for all nine innings in some matchups.

Another loss helped the Dodgers rest some of their high-powered weapons as they prepared for the cold Thursday and Friday nights in Queens before heading back to LA (if necessary). These teams have traded blowouts thus far, but LA setting the tone like this on their way to regaining home field advantage could be the moment everyone looks back on after this series ends.