Dodgers facts and figures after two NLCS games

By Jon Weisman

Two games into the 2016 National League Championship Series, we have had no shortage of drama — or trivia.  For those of you who like to wallow in the historically bizarre and bizarrely historical, here are some off-day tidbits:

Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen

• The 102 pitches thrown Sunday by the Dodgers (84 by Kershaw, 18 by Jansen) are the fewest Los Angeles has thrown in a playoff victory since pitch counts have been regularly tracked (which basically includes any game since 1988 and scattered contests before then).
• The Dodgers are 4-3 in the 2016 postseason: four one-run wins, and three losses by more than one run. Kershaw and Jansen have pitched pitched in all four one-run wins.
• In this postseason, Kershaw has become the Dodgers’ all-time playoff leader in innings (84), games (17), starts (13) and strikeouts (104).
• In his postseason career, Kershaw has allowed a .284 on-base percentage and .621 OPS with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. In his past seven postseason games, opponents have a .526 OPS against Kershaw.
• As a hitter, Kershaw has a career .308 on-base percentage. In Dodger history, this trails only Johnny Podres (.313) among pitchers with at least 10 plate appearances.
• Sunday, Kershaw tied Podres and Orel Hershiser as pitchers with five career postseason hits. Kershaw also has a franchise-record three walks and four sacrifices.
• Jansen is second behind Kershaw on the Dodgers in career postseason games with 15.
• Despite pitching only 16 career playoff innings, Jansen has moved into the Dodgers’ all-time postseason top 10 in strikeouts with 29. In his playoff career, he is averaging 16.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Jansen’s eight postseason saves are five more than the No. 2 man on the list, Jonathan Broxton.
• Jansen is the first Dodger reliever to strike out four batters in back-to-back playoff games.
• Jansen is the third pitcher in MLB playoff history to strike out four batters while throwing fewer than 20 pitches, joining Wade Davis (2014 ALCS Game 1) and John Smoltz (2002 NLDS Game 2).

Team notes

• The Dodgers return to L.A. with home-field advantage, and seven relievers will have at least two days’ rest entering Game 3. Luis Avilan, Josh Fields and Alex Wood have yet to pitch in the NLCS.
• Justin Turner has the highest playoff on-base percentage (.519) as a Dodger of anyone who has been in more than one playoff series with the team.
• Through two NLCS games, the Dodgers have two hits by right-handed batters: Turner and Kenta Maeda.
• In this NLCS, the No. 9 spot in the order for the Dodgers has five hits: Kenta Maeda, Andre Ethier, Andrew Toles (two) and Kershaw. The Nos. 1-8 spots have seven hits.
• Sunday’s victory ended an nine-game road NLCS losing streak, the longest in MLB history (according to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.). The Dodgers lost all five games at Philadelphia in the 2008-09 NLCS, three in St. Louis in the 2014 NLCS and this year’s NLCS opener in Chicago.
• Sunday’s game time of 2:45 was 52 minutes shorter than the Dodgers’ previously shortest game of the postseason, and the shortest they have played since their 1-0 loss to St. Louis in Game 2 of the 2013 NLCS.
• Adrián González hit his seventh career playoff homer by the Dodgers, trailing only Duke Snider (11) and Steve Garvey (10).
• In Game 1, the Cubs set MLB records for most hits and most times on base with only one single.
• Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks became the first Cubs pitcher to give up a go-ahead playoff homer to the Dodgers since Ryan Dempster allowed James Loney’s grand slam in Game 1 of the 2008 NLDS. In 2012, the Cubs acquired Hendricks in a deal for Dempster.