Los Angeles Dodgers 2018 NLCS win: By the numbers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading back to the World Series after an NLCS battle with the Milwaukee Brewers that was one for the ages.

The NLCS is done and the Los Angeles Dodgers will be going back to the World Series with a chance to break their thirty-year drought. It wasn’t easy, but that has been the story of the 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers needed seven games to get back to the precipice of a championship against a very tough Milwaukee Brewers team. The two teams seemed evenly matched as the Brewers hit .232 while scoring 24 runs and the Dodgers hit .223 while scoring 23 runs.

The Dodgers’ ERA was 3.18 and the Brewers ERA was 3.15; can’t get any more even than that. With both teams so evenly matched up, how were the Dodgers able to overcome? Let’s look at some other numbers.

Two

Two was a magic number for the Los Angeles Dodgers in this series. They beat the best home team in the National League two times on the road and those two wins were enough to take the series.

Two game-winning hits for Cody Bellinger, the walk-off single in the bottom of the thirteenth of game four and the game-deciding two-run home run in game seven. Those two hits in big moments ultimately lead voters to vote Bellinger NLCS MVP despite only hitting .200 for the series.

53

Game seven was Yasiel Puig‘s 53rd playoff game, extending the franchise record he broke when he played in his 52nd game Friday night. Puig with his typical flare for the dramatics had his biggest hit of the postseason, putting the game away with a three-run home run in the fifth inning.

It was Puig’s fourth career postseason home run and it gave the Dodgers breathing room turning a close 2-1 game into a 5-1 rout. Puig will get at least four more games to extend his record.

1.45

Going into the NLCS all the talk centered around the Brewers bullpen, but it was the Dodgers bullpen that shined the most.

In 31 innings, the Dodgers bullpen had a 1.45 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 12 walks. In the crucial game seven, the bullpen completely shut down the Brewers going four and one-third innings, giving up just one hit and striking out seven.

.179/1 

The likely NL MVP for this year, Christian Yelich, was completely shut down by Dodgers pitching. He only hit .179 for the series with one home run and RBI. Both came in the first inning of game seven.

Other than that big hit, Yelich did very little to affect the series, he struck out seven times and was a far cry from his season form.  The Dodgers pitchers never let Yelich beat them and as a result, the Brewers struggled to score runs.