The unsung heroes of the Dodgers' 2017 postseason? Their bullpen

We’ll talk about the home run, because it was thrilling and will be part of Los Angeles Dodgers lore for years to come. And we’ll talk about Joe Maddon’s bullpen usage, because he left John Lackey out there to throw the biggest pitch of the game and Chicago Cubs fans will regret that for years to come.

But after Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, people may not be talking about enough about the unsung heroes of the Dodgers’ postseason so far — their bullpen.

Sunday night, it was more of what we’ve seen lately: Four relievers combined to finish the final four innings. Runs? Nada. Hits? None. Walks? None of those either, unless you count closer Kenley Jansen pegging Anthony Rizzo with a pitch in the ninth. In typical Jansen fashion, he struck out the next batter and induced a groundout.

But Rizzo was actually the first baserunner the Dodgers relievers have allowed in this series. In Game 1, which the Dodgers won 5-2, it was five relievers going four innings. Runs? Still nada. Hits? Still none. Walks? C’mon you know the answer — nothing. In the NLCS, L.A. relievers retired 24 of the 25 batters they faced. If the NLCS were a single game, they’d be in the middle of a no-hitter in the eighth inning.

For the last time an opposing hitter got a hit against the Dodgers bullpen, you have to go Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Oct. 9, when Jansen gave up a ninth-inning single to David Peralta of the Arizona Diamondbacks, then did the ground out-strikeout combo again.

You can guess what else happened in that game: Four Dodgers relievers pitched four innings, allowed no runs, just the one hit and struck out four.

“They’re just executing pitches and they’re ready when called upon and they’re competing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after Game 2. “It’s a close-knit group down there. Josh Bard, our bullpen coach, has done a fantastic job with those guys, along with Rick Honeycutt. And just the preparation. Those guys know exactly what they want to do, and they’re going out there and executing.”

If you’re wondering how all this translates when the numbers are crunched, it’s pretty incredible:

• The Dodgers relievers have allowed the fewest earned runs (three) and the fewest hits (eight) in the postseason, if you take out the wild-card losers. By comparison, the Cubs bullpen has given up 16 earned runs and 19 hits.

• The Rockies bullpen actually gave up more hits (10) in their one game than the Dodgers have in the entire postseason (eight).

• The Dodgers’ bullpen has the best WHIP in the postseason (0.46). The Cubs have, uhhh, not the best. (2.10)

• How’s this? The K/BB rate for L.A. relievers is 19.00, which is easily No. 1. Next best? The D-backs at 3.80.

In a postseason in which teams are straying further from tradition, pulling their starters early and depending on their bullpen for longer lengths of time, the Dodgers are the team setting the standard. And this is, mostly, by design.

We’ve seen the Dodgers bullpen falter in years past, as the team tried to make it through the postseason by leaning too much on Clayton Kershaw and Jansen. And we saw Dodgers fans cursing the name of Pedro Baez at the end of the season, as he got beat up by opposing teams.

But the Dodgers knew there was only one true objective — winning in October.

So they paced their relievers in the regular season and they spent the last year deepening their bullpen — from the free-agent signing of Brandon Morrow, who has pitched four hitless innings over the last three games, including two full innings in Game 2. There’s Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani, who the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadline. There’s Josh Fields, who has found his place in L.A.’s bullpen after a summer 2016 trade.

And then there’s Kenta Maeda, whose 4.22 ERA as a starter this season is being forgotten as he’s turned himself into a postseason weapon, throwing three perfect innings and striking out four across three games.

None of it works without Jansen, whose status as baseball’s more effective relief pitcher raises each postseason. He’s willing to go multiple innings, work his team out of tight situations and is quickly becoming Mariano Rivera 2.0.

“We know that this moment’s going to come, and we know that I’m going to throw multiple innings,” Jansen said after Game 2. “So I was ready for it.”

It appears the Dodgers have learned from their past mistakes. The game plan isn’t to pitch Kershaw as much as possible and hope for the best the rest of the game. The plan is to build a dangerous weapon around Kershaw and Jansen. And so far, it’s working.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz