It wasn’t the mental lapse by rookie shortstop Corey Seager that brought an abrupt end to the Dodgers 2015 season in Thursday night’s brutal 3-2 loss to the New York Mets. It wasn’t even the pop fly ball that veteran right fielder Andre Ethier caught in foul territory that he could have let bounce which would have prevented Mets slugger Daniel Murphy from tagging up and scoring the tying run on the very next play. And though it will forever be these two crucial plays that Dodger fans will forever remember as the reason why their beloved team lost Game-5 of the 2015 National League Division Series, it was their age-old nemesis – their inability to hit with runners in scoring position – that was the real reason for their demise.

To say that the Dodgers had their chances against Mets starter Jacob deGrom is a gross understatement. They didn’t just have a few chances, they had a boatload of them. And while the eight men that they stranded on base was in and of itself is a huge problem, it was their 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position on Thursday night that ended their season – a character flaw that has haunted the Dodgers throughout their 132-year history.

You don’t have to be a sabermetrician or analytics geek to figure out why the Dodgers aren’t going to the NLCS. These two stats tell the whole story.

After allowing a one-out RBI double to Murphy in the first inning, Dodgers starter Zack Greinke’s teammates scored two runs on four consecutive singles in their half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead in the win-or-go-home contest. By every indication they appeared to have quickly figured out deGrom and had him on the ropes. But after a mound visit by Mets manager Terry Collins (as opposed to pitching coach Dan Warthen), deGrom didn’t just settle down, he complete shut down the Dodgers offense. In fact, of the Dodgers six total hits on the night, only two came after that mound visit. deGrom finished the night allowing only two runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in his outstanding six innings of work.

But for as good as deGrom was, fellow Mets starter Noah Syndergaard (who pitched a scoreless and hitless inning of relief) and Mets closer Jeurys Familia (who retired all six batters he faced in order) were even better. In fact, the only Dodger to reach base after the sixth inning was a harmless two-out unintentional intentional walk by Syndergaard to the always dangerous Adrian Gonzalez. It was blatantly obviously that Collins and Syndergaard were not going to allow the Dodgers first baseman to beat them. But like the seven Dodgers base runners before him, AGon was left stranded on base when Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner struck out to end the inning.

On the bright side, Turner finished the night going 3 for 4 with two doubles and a run batted in. In doing so, he finished the best-of-five series with 10 hits in 19 at-bats (.526) with six doubles and four RBIs. His on-base percentage was .550 and his slugging percentage .842 for a phenomenal 1.392 OPS. Had the Dodgers won the series, Turner would have been the series MVP – hands down.

Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom allowed only six hits on Thursday night. Justin Turner had three of them – including two doubles. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But alas, the Dodgers did not win the division series. Turner was not the series MVP. The Mets move on to the championship series while the Dodgers go home for the winter – once again because of their 132-year-long nemesis of not being able to hit with runners in scoring position. It’s as simple as that.

The good news is that there are only 123 days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

Man, it’s going to be a long winter.