White Sox just crushed a Dodgers Division Series record nobody wanted any part of

While the Los Angeles Dodgers have been awaiting the start of the NLCS matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers, they've been able to get a glimpse of the competition they may face should they advance to the World Series, as the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox wrapped up their tilt with a winner-take-all Game 5.

As the game unfolded, the Dodgers had more than just a scouting interest in the matchup. The swing-happy White Sox sluggers had been extremely whiff-prone all season and all series, but Game 5 was something else. With each passing strikeout, Los Angeles's interest grew, and by the end of a 21-strikeout affair by Chicago, they had erased the Dodgers from the record books.

With a whopping 75 Ks in total across the five-game set, the White Sox now hold the record for the offense with the most strikeouts ever in a Division Series with 75, far outpassing the 2019 Dodgers and 2017 Yankees, who both previously shared the record with 64.

It's a funny thing to think about the 2019 NLDS, a series that LA lost 3-2 to the Washington Nationals because, in many ways, that was the failure that gave birth to the modern-day juggernaut that the Dodgers have become.

Mark Walter, Andrew Friedman, and Dave Roberts had all been on the scene for a few years before 2019, and while they had built the team back up from the ashes of the Frank McCourt ownership, they hadn't been able to get over the hump yet.

2017 saw them reach the World Series and fall in seven games to the sign-stealing Houston Astros. 2018 saw them fall yet again in the World Series, this time to the Boston Red Sox.

In addition to the embarrassment of the strikeouts, Roberts learned in 2019 that Clayton Kershaw's magic out of the bullpen had an expiration date in Game 5, when the Los Angeles legend gave up back-to-back homers to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto to tie the game at 3. Getting eliminated so early in the postseason after failing to punch home a World Series win in consecutive years was the final humiliation the Dodgers needed to set off the current dynasty.

The Dodgers are a different beast now than they were during the 2019 NLDS

The Dodgers learned valuable lessons from 2019 that they'd carry on to break the ice and win the World Series in 2020, and then set up the current run with back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025.

The 2019 roster was heavily homegrown, with 13 of its members being developed through Los Angeles' farm system. Six players were signed as free agents, and the other six were acquired via trade.

While many of those homegrown talents, like Corey Seager, Joc Pederson, Will Smith, and others, proved to be very good, there was something to be said for the value they provided versus the value they could have brought the organization at their prospect peaks.

That was a lesson that the Dodgers have taken to heart, now more frequently trading away these top talents for established veteran superstars who are the backbone of the roster. In doing so, LA has removed the year-to-year volatility and become the presumptive annual favorite.

While the Dodgers were erased from the records this postseason and are happy to see that distinction fall by the wayside, they're also primed to make history. They'll need to clear the Milwaukee Brewers first, but if they can manage that, they'll have an opportunity to become the first National League team in history to win three straight World Series titles.

In many ways, you can look back to the 2019 strikeout fest as the tipping point that taught the club what needed to be done in order to become a champion.

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