Dodgers have played 16 winner-take-all playoff games. Here’s the story of each one

Dodgers players (from second left) Kiké Hernández, Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish and Austin Barnes watch the Houston Astros celebrate after winning the 2017 World Series.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Game 7
November 1
Houston Astros 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Three nights earlier, all hell broke loose in Houston to send the Dodgers to the brink of elimination. The 13-12 Astros win in Game 5 included seven home runs, five by Houston; another early postseason exit by Clayton Kershaw; two squandered L.A. leads of at least three runs; a three-run ninth-inning lead squandered by the Houston bullpen; and, of course, trash cans. Game 6, back in Dodger Stadium, was a much crisper affair, with L.A. beating Astros ace Justin Verlander behind Rich Hill and four relievers, the last of which was Kenley Jansen, who retired the final six Astros in order.

The Astros opened an early lead in Game 7, scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second off Yu Darvish, the last two runs coming on George Springer’s fifth home run of the Series. The Dodgers — playing their first World Series Game 7 since 1965 — were held to six hits, scoring on a sixth-inning single by Andre Ethier. The story of this Fall Classic, we eventually learned, was only beginning.