LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers were sick of hearing it. Since the start of Spring Training, they have been answering questions about postseason failures of the past, which have included early exits the last two Octobers.

Changing the narrative is what drove the Dodgers over the last six months. They came into Friday’s game with a chance to do just that. They weren’t going to let this opportunity go to waste.

With a 2-0 win over the Padres in Game 5 of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers advanced to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2021 and moved eight wins closer to their ultimate goal. They will play the Mets in the best-of-seven NLCS beginning here on Sunday night.

"We went through a lot of injuries and a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but we fight, we fight and we keep going -- and we've got champagne on us right now," Mookie Betts said in a postgame interview on FOX.

The series between the two NL West rivals lived up to the hype. It was a five-game battle between two of the best teams in the sport. Both teams continuously said they wanted to throw the hardest punch. It was the Dodgers who delivered the knockout.

Kiké Hernández got the Dodgers going offensively with a two-out blast in the second inning off right-hander Yu Darvish. In the seventh, Teoscar Hernández added a homer of his own off Darvish. That was more than enough run support for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a dominant Dodgers bullpen.

In the biggest start of his life, Yamamoto responded. He tossed five scoreless innings and didn’t run into much trouble. The lone time the Padres got anything going against Yamamoto, the Japanese right-hander defused it by inducing a 5-4-3 double play against Fernando Tatis Jr. to end the third inning.

Once Yamamoto set the tone, the Dodgers’ bullpen shut things down, with Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen combining to close out the win. With Friday’s shutout, the Dodgers finished off the NLDS by tossing 24 consecutive scoreless innings against one of the best offenses in baseball.