Dodgers history in Games 1 of best-of-5 series

It’s not quite the urgency of a wild card game, since there is more time to breathe in a five-game series. But Game 1 is still of paramount importance, as we head into the opener of a Dodgers-Giants NLDS.

The Dodgers in their history have played 20 best-of-five series in their history, including each of the last eight years in the Division Series. The Game 1 result has matched the series result 17 times for the Dodgers, including in 15 of the last 16 such series.

The only series that strayed from the Game 1 result was the 2019 NLDS, when the 106-win Dodgers won Game 1 over the Nationals, but dropped the series in five games.

When the Dodgers win Game 1 on the road in a best-of-five series, they are 5-0 in those series.

When they win any best-of-five Game 1, they are 10-1 in the series. LA’s last Game 1 loss in a short series was in the 2015 NLDS against the Mets, a series won by New York in five games.

The Dodgers have lost Game 1 of a best-of-five nine times. They are 2-7 in those series, losing the last seven after wins in the 1977 NLCS against the Phillies and 1981 NLDS against the Astros. That 1981 series against the Astros was the last time the Dodgers lost the opener of a best-of-five on the road but won the series.