This time they didn’t suffocate.

This time they choked.

On a glorious night amid a roaring sea of ​​happy blue, the Dodgers wrapped their weathered arms around the San Diego Padres on Friday and crushed those brown jerseys like an empty paper sack, finally breathing out redemption, relief and a coveted spot just four wins from the game World Series.

In Game 5 of the winner-take-all National League Division Series, the Dodgers took all the criticisms of their last two postseason defeats and buried them under a barrage of fastballs and long balls in a near-perfect 2-0. Victory over the Dodgers Padres at shamelessly cheerful Dodger Stadium.

Buried were the sins of their predecessors, the failures of previous seasons, the grind of post-season humiliation.

Buried, from here to Chula Vista.

It was the first postseason series win at Chavez Ravine in 11 years with fans in attendance and, man, it was a sight.

When Kiké Hernández threw the final ground ball to Max Muncy, the roofs of the pavilion burst apart, 50,000 fans jumped and roared in unison, Blake Treinen stood in the middle on the mound with both hands raised to the sky as if in shock, the entire Dodgers team surrounded him, hugging him and jumping up and down like he was screaming out two years of October pain.

“I Love LA” has rarely sounded louder, lasted so long or been so full of hope.

Later, in a Dodgers clubhouse full of champagne, Miguel Rojas held up a shot glass and shouted to the group that had shut out the Padres the last 13 innings: “Hey bullpen! This shot is for your boys!”

Dave Roberts then exhorted his team to keep pushing and the manager shouted: “Eight more wins!” And I’m telling you now, guys, I’ve never believed in a group of men more than I believe in you. And more importantly, each of you believed in each other.”

The Dodgers now host the surging New York Mets in the National League Championship beginning Sunday, a seven-game matchup with the winner advancing to the World Series.

It will feel disappointing, and for good reason. The Dodgers should dominate. The losing Mets have made progress this postseason thanks to small miracles. The superior Dodgers are all muscular.

They proved it once and for all on Friday night against a Padres team that was probably their biggest hurdle on their way to their first full-season World Series championship in 36 years.

This first series was the most difficult. This is what the Dodgers really needed. They began the tense evening amid memories of first-round exits in the last two postseasons, including a humiliation at the hands of these Padres in 2022.

Were they able to shake off the demons of their history? Could they erase the memories of their mistakes?

Could they ever?

Dodgers players celebrate around reliever Blake Treinen after the finale of Game 5 of the NLDS against the Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“We didn’t come here to win the NL West; “We came to win the World Series… that’s what we have to do, or we go home and think about everything in the offseason, and this team comes to spring training thinking about the failures of years past, blah, blah, blah,” Hernandez said.

They actually avoided the blah, blah, blah.

They did it with “Wow, wow, wow.”

It began with a shocking performance by the surprise starter, the struggling Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who eventually earned a portion of his record-breaking $325 million contract by shutting out the Padres with two hits in five innings.

It continued with the Dodgers’ Señor October Hernández, a prolific October hitter, sending Yu Darvish’s first pitch of the second inning into the left field stands. Hernández has an astonishing 14 home runs and 29 RBIs in 188 postseason at-bats, including three home runs against the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS.

“You have to have the right attitude and the right mentality to come in here and just find a way to dominate the day,” he said, noting that he envisions postseason success. “You just find a way, whatever you have to find, so that when the moment comes, when the big moment comes and you get to work or whatever it is, you can’t let it happen , you feel like you’re bigger than the moment, and there’s no moment that’s too big for you.”

His moment was followed five innings later by a similar shot from Teoscar Hernández into the left stands, the underrated offseason steal from Andrew Friedman, the MVP not named Ohtani.

The game ended with the Dodger bullpen, which had been so brilliant in a decisive win in Game 4, this time four relievers holding the Padres hitless over the final four innings. The Padres finished the series without scoring a run in the final 24 innings, with Dodger pitching retiring the final 19 batters.

Kiké Hernández, center, celebrates with Mookie Betts, left, and Teoscar Hernández after hitting a solo home run for the Dodgers in the second inning against the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The crowd roared with every pitch and kept their water bottles to themselves, a worthy companion to a team flirting with greatness.

“If there is something that has this amount, it is hungry,” Kiké Hernández said. “They want a championship. They want another one. What we had a few years ago, the city couldn’t celebrate for obvious reasons. We know how bad they want it…we just know our fans are behind us and we’re ready to rock with them.”

They rocked, the Padres were done, one October chapter was over, two more remained, a once-dreaded journey continues.