LOS ANGELES — A winner-takes-all game — whether it’s a Game 7 or, in this case, a Game 5 — could be worth the wait.

It was definitely Friday night for Dodger fans.

All those frayed nerves after being pushed to the brink of elimination by the San Diego Padres after Game 3 of the National League Division Series?

All that pent-up anxiety after back-to-back exits from the NLDS over the past two years?

All those doubts that Friday’s starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the right man to throw an elimination game, especially against a Padres team that threw him at the start of the season in South Korea and again in the first game of this had gotten the series into trouble?

Fuhgeddover, as they would say in New York. Which, by the way, is the next hurdle for the Dodgers. The search continues, the Amazin’ Mets – that description is as true this season as it has been for years – will be at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night for the start of the NL Championship Series … and Dodger fans, you have all Saturday to rest and take a few deep breaths before the obsession resumes.

The Padres were finally put aside on Friday night, with all the commotion and noise from earlier in the series dissipating in a 2-0 victory that featured solo home runs from Kiké and Teoscar Hernández and, last but not least, a masterful five innings of Yamamoto. the kind of pitching Andrew Friedman and his front office envisioned when they agreed to a 12-year, $325 million contract to bring the Japanese right-hander to the United States.

Any doubts about whether Yamamoto could handle the pressure of the elimination game quickly disappeared Friday evening. He was traveling at about 90 to 90 miles per hour with his four-seamer, a few ticks above his average speed. He allowed two hits, allowed only one man to get into scoring position, showed no nerves and (we assume) tipped no throws.

“What he did tonight, that’s who he is,” Kiké Hernández said. “And we are not surprised at all. Game 1 didn’t go his way, but this is the beauty of baseball; you can do it the next day. In this case it was five, six days later. He did his thing.”

Five innings was probably two more than the Dodger faithful had hoped for and perhaps three or four more than expected, and it set up the likely method by which the Dodgers will have to operate throughout the month of October if they want to provide the parade that they and their fans have never received it again after the 2020 World Series title.

This is a superior bullpen than the one Dodger fans have railed against in recent years, and it was a parade of relief pitchers who ended this series with a 24-inning scoreless streak. After a six-run second inning in Tuesday night’s 6-5 Game 3 win that pushed the Dodgers to the brink, San Diego not only never scored again, but also got runners in scoring position in just six of those 24 innings, 15 of which came against the Dodgers’ high-leverage relievers.

So this should be the script for a team whose original pitching plan has been seriously compromised by injuries: Get what you can out of the starter, then turn him into a bullpen with multiple leverage arms and multiple looks (including a verified flamethrower in Michael Kopech, whose final pitch of the eighth inning was a 100-mph four-seamer in – or perhaps above – the zone Jake Cronenworth waved in vain for strike three).

Given that scenario, there was one scary moment Friday night. Alex Vesia took the final of the seventh, striking out Jackson Merrill. He came out to warm up for the eighth and then walked down the hill, toward the dugout and then to the clubhouse, accompanied by an athletic trainer. Manager Dave Roberts later said Vesia described it as a cramp but would undergo further investigation.

“I’m crossing my fingers that it’s not some kind of intercostal or oblique situation,” Roberts said. “I hope it’s just a cramp.”

If it’s more serious, that could spell trouble, as Vesia and Anthony Banda were the only left-handed relievers on the roster for this series, and would likely be targeted by Mets’ left-handed hitters Brandon Nimmo and Jesse Winker in critical spots. The only other lefties currently on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster are rookies Justin Wrobleski and Zach Logue … and Clayton Kershaw, who was ruled out due to injury before the start of the postseason.

But there’s a day to fix that, just like there’s a day for the Dodgers to sober up after the traditionally raucous clubhouse party. While the players were spraying champagne, family members milled around the field and their children romped on what had become LA’s coolest playground. Meanwhile, a few thousand fans remained in their seats on the field, enjoying the scene too much to leave.

After the last two Octobers, you would stay too.