LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are returning to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2021, taking Game 5 from the San Diego Padres, 2-0. Yoshinobu Yamamoto rebounded from his shaky postseason debut to have a stellar start, and the Dodgers’ bullpen was nearly perfect again.
The Padres didn’t score a run in the final 24 innings of the NLDS, which isn’t typically the secret sauce for winning a World Series.
Both Dodgers runs scored on solo home runs off Yu Darvish, who was otherwise brilliant.