California Post poaches Dylan Hernandez, Jack Harris as Los Angeles Times sports section faces continued upheaval

LOS ANGELES — The California Post has hired Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez and Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris, both writers announced Tuesday, as the New York Post’s West Coast offshoot prepares to launch next month.

Hernandez, who spent 18 years at The Times, and Harris, who joined the paper in 2019, are the first confirmed Los Angeles Times departures tied to the California Post’s aggressive expansion. Harris will continue covering the Dodgers as a beat writer, while Hernandez — previously a Dodgers beat writer earlier in his career — will shift into a more Dodgers-focused columnist role rather than serving as a general sports columnist.

Not only does the Los Angeles Times lose their top two Dodgers writers but also the hosts of their only sports podcast – Dodgers Debate – as the paper has largely punted on podcasts after laying off most of their podcast team two years ago. 

The California Post’s sports section will be led by sports editor Ryan Kostecka, who has been the sports editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune since July 2024. Prior to that, the University of Oregon graduate worked as a digital content writer for the Utah Jazz for three years.

Edward Lewis, a senior producer for TMZ Sports, is also joining the California Post as a senior sports reporter.

Sources say the Post is in talks with other Los Angeles Times staffers about making the jump before the tabloid launches in late January.

This is not the first time an established media outlet has planted its flag in Los Angeles and attempted to poach sports writers and editors from the Los Angeles Times. ESPN launched ESPN Los Angeles in 2009, and The Athletic entered the L.A. market in 2018. In both cases, the standalone Los Angeles newsroom was folded into the parent company within two to three years.

Whether that ultimately happens with the New York Post has not been a major factor for Times employees considering the move, according to sources. Having some semblance of stability for at least a couple of years, they say, is preferable to the current status quo.

The Post’s arrival in Los Angeles comes amid continued contraction at the Los Angeles Times. In January 2024, the paper laid off more than 20 percent of its editorial staff, cutting more than 115 newsroom jobs. The newspaper is believed to be losing between $30 million and $50 million annually, with Adweek reporting losses of $50 million in 2024. That report also noted that last year’s fires that ravaged Southern California, disproportionately affected affluent neighborhoods such as the Palisades and Altadena — areas home to a dense concentration of the Times’ print subscribers.

Print circulation, which stood at roughly 75,000 at the start of 2025, is now reportedly closer to 65,000 entering 2026.

Two years ago, the paper eliminated box scores, standings and traditional game stories after selling and closing its Los Angeles printing plant, citing early print deadlines. While those elements have since returned, they now run with significant delays, with readers receiving, for example, Sunday box scores and standings, in Tuesday’s paper.

Beyond early print deadlines, Los Angeles is no longer a print-newspaper town. There are only seven newsstands left in the city, and it has become increasingly difficult to find a physical copy of the paper, even at locations that carried it before the pandemic. When available, a single copy costs $3.66 before tax and is often fewer than 40 pages. An annual home-delivery print subscription now costs $364.

When Patrick Soon-Shiong purchased the Los Angeles Times in 2018, he told The Washington Post, “One of our priorities is to be the sports paper of the nation.” Since 2020, however, the sports section has been reduced to the final four or five pages of the California section five days a week, with a standalone sports section of six to eight pages appearing only twice per week.

The Times currently assigns full-time beat writers only to the Lakers, Dodgers, Rams, Chargers, USC and UCLA. It no longer has dedicated beat writers for the Clippers, Angels, Kings, Ducks, LAFC, Galaxy, Sparks or Angel City FC, nor does it regularly cover sports it once dominated in the market, including boxing, mixed martial arts and horse racing. Coverage of teams without beat writers largely consists of Associated Press recaps, which are now typically around 300 words and often run without quotes.

Low web traffic, according to multiple sources, is one of the primary reasons the paper no longer covers certain teams. Many stories on teams without a beat writer averaged fewer than 1,000 unique page views. The Times’ hard paywall has compounded the issue, with annual digital-only subscriptions now priced at $208. 

The instability has coincided with changes involving some of the paper’s most recognizable figures. In a June 2025 column, longtime Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke revealed he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021 and wrote candidly about his struggle with the condition. According to sources, Plaschke will remain at the Times but is considering retirement after the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which would cap a two-year stretch in which the city will host the NBA All-Star Game, the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Summer Olympics.

Some of the Los Angeles Times staffers considering making a jump to the Post wonder what the Times will even look like two years from now. Will there still be a daily print edition? If so, will it include sports?  

As the California Post prepares to launch, its early hires underscore a broader reality in Los Angeles sports, media: growth is no longer coming from legacy institutions. Instead, it is arriving through new ventures willing to invest in boots-on-the-ground coverage in a market once defined by it and now increasingly starved for it.