Five crazy stats that explain just how much the Dodgers dominated the NLCS

The National League Championship Series was supposed to feature two evenly-matched clubs going all-out in a brutal fight to see who went to the World Series. Instead, it was a lopsided affair in which the Los Angeles Dodgers stomped all over the Chicago Cubs.

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Game 5 encapsulated that pretty well, as Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernandez became the unlikely hero with an incredible three home runs during the contest. His record-setting night featured seven RBI, which is just one fewer run than the Cubs scored all series.

That’s just scratching the surface. The Dodgers dismantled the Cubs so thoroughly that we figured we would share some of their most impressive, eye-popping stats from the 2017 NLCS.

Dodgers fans, enjoy. Cubs fans, feel free to find something else to read on the Internet. No one needs to be this much of a masochist.

• .324: The combined batting average of co-MVPs Justin Turner and Chris Taylor. Both players were a constant thorn in the Cubs’ side. Each hit two home runs a piece, including Turner’s walk-off shot off John Lackey to win Game 2. Turner also caused a lot of Cubs fans to panic in Game 4, belting a solo shot off closer Wade Davis to bring the Dodgers within one run. Taylor’s home runs gave the Dodgers the lead in both Game 1 and Game 3. Those two hit No. 1 and No. 2 all series, and set the tone for the entire offense immediately.

• 0.00: Combined ERA of the Dodgers bullpen against the Cubs offense. The team’s relievers didn’t give up a hit in the series until Game 3. Overall, they gave up just five hits over 17 innings. They struck out 18 hitters. And it’s not like the team’s starters were bad, either. Alex Wood gave up three runs in Game 4. That was the worst performance of any Dodgers starter all series.

• .135: The combined batting average of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. And Bryant did most of the heavy lifting there, hitting .200 in the five games. The only other Cubs regular to hit above that was catcher Willson Contreras, who hit .222. Rizzo finished with just one hit in 17 at-bats. José Quintana, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester all had one hit a piece during the series.

• 0: Number of plate appearances from Corey Seager. Seager did not play a single game in the NLCS due to a back injury. The Dodgers dominated the Cubs without their best player this season — at least as far as fWAR is concerned. He posted a 5.7 fWAR during the regular season. That figure ranked seventh in the National League, and first on the Dodgers. In his absence, the team turned to Charlie Culberson, who hit .455, and Taylor, who you already know shared MVP honors with Turner for the series.

• 199: That’s how many more pitches the Cubs threw than the Dodgers. In five games, Chicago threw a total of 820 pitches. Los Angeles finished at 621. That should give you an idea of how dominant the Dodgers were on both sides of the ball. Their offense forced a number of Cubs relievers to reach uncomfortable pitching totals, while their own pitchers generally ripped through Cubs hitters. There might be no better example of this than the teams’ closers. In one appearance, the Cubs’ Game 4 win, Wade Davis threw 48 pitches over two innings. Kenley Jansen tossed just 47 pitches in four appearances. Everything looked easy for the Dodgers in this series.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik