Los Angeles Dodgers: NLDS loss, by the numbers

The Los Angeles Dodgers watched an opponent celebrate on their field for the third consecutive season this time just a few rounds earlier, losing game five of the National League Division Series to the Washington Nationals.

After setting a team record with 106 wins, the Los Angeles Dodgers left too much to chance and lost their third do or die game at home in the last five seasons.

One game does not make a series and these are the underlying numbers that kept the Dodgers from winning a World Series for their third decade in a row.

7.11

Maybe it should be two but judging Kershaw in this series over two pitches is too simplistic, the reality was his overall series was bad. This is the second consecutive series in which Kershaw’s ERA was north of seven.

With his back to back gopher ball home runs in the eighth inning that meant Kershaw had given up five home runs in his last two series and further eroded any chance he had for playoff glory.

You can blame his manager for putting him in a bad spot in Game 5 but the reality is that in 6 1/3 innings, Kershaw gave up five runs. With a better pitching performance from Kershaw, it’s likely that the Dodgers win the series.

0

Zero, zilch, nada: that’s how many home runs and runs batted in were driven in by Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and A.J. Pollock. Seager was 0-8 with runners in scoring position, Pollock set a Dodgers LDS record with 11 strikeouts and Bellinger, the Dodgers MVP all year, struck out seven times and only had one extra-base hit.

The Dodgers’ biggest sluggers came up short time and time again in the series; and in a series where the Dodgers’ run differential ended up being one, that kind of futility fueled the series loss.

0.71

For Dodgers fans, there was one positive from the series it is the confirmation that Walker Buehler is a big-game pitcher. His ERA for the series was 0.71, he had 15 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings and threw a career-high 117 pitches, leaving the game with a 3-1 lead that the Dodgers should have won.

In Buehler’s last four postseason starts, in 24 1/3 innings, he has struck out 29 batters and given up two earned runs. The Los Angeles Dodgers have something special in Buehler and a postseason ace for the foreseeable future.

What now

Coming up short of a World Series title for the seventh consecutive season stinks, and no number can quantify the disappointment. Expect some changes this off-season and as always “hope springs eternal.”