Of course, it took until the ninth inning of the 24th and final meeting this year to finally separate the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.

It couldn't have been any closer.

Bellinger hit a tie-breaking single in the ninth and prized midseason acquisition Max Scherzer came out of the bullpen for his first career save, sending the Dodgers past the Giants 2-1 in a thrilling winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday night and into the National League Championship Series.

Bellinger's line drive up the middle decided a scintillating NL Division Series between the two winningest teams in baseball with 213 regular-season victories between them, adding a new chapter to this storied, century-old rivalry.

"We poured everything we could into this series and it took everything we had to beat these guys," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

And the dramatic finish came with a controversial call: With a runner on, Scherzer struck out Wilmer Flores on a check-swing. First base umpire Gabe Morales called Flores out on appeal - but on television replays, it certainly didn't appear he swung.

"The umpire said it was a swing, so it was a swing," Bellinger said.

The Dodgers rushed out of their dugout to celebrate on the Giants' home field. Fans began throwing beer cans and debris onto the diamond in disgust.

"Super tough. Obviously, you don't want a game to end that way," San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said.

"There's no need to be angry about that. I just think it's a disappointing way to end. There are other reasons we didn't win today's baseball game, so that was just the last call of the game."

Mookie Betts had a postseason career-high four hits and will lead the next step for the defending World Series champions at Atlanta for Game 1 of the best-of-seven NLCS on Saturday night.

Los Angeles came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Braves in last year's NLCS, taking Game 7 by a 4-3 score on the way to its first title since 1988.

"It's going to be another good one. It's not going to be easy," Bellinger said. "We played each other a few times the last few years. So we kind of know what each other's got, and really looking forward to it."

Camilo Doval plunked Justin Turner with one out in the ninth and Gavin Lux then singled before Bellinger delivered his most meaningful hit in a difficult season.

Before the big single, he was 5 for 62 (.080) against the Giants in 2021.

"You really do want to be in that moment," Bellinger said.

Scherzer closed out a best-of-five series certain to go down among the several classics these franchises have played - right up there with the 1951 and 1962 editions that matched up in three-game tiebreakers for the NL pennant, with the Giants winning each time.

In the season's final meeting between these evenly-matched rivals it was only fitting they split at 12 apiece. The 107-win Giants edged the Dodgers for the NL West title on the final day of the regular season, Los Angeles winding up a game back with 106 victories.

Both teams went into this game with 109 wins, including the playoffs.

Australian Associated Press