I assumed I would be asleep when the Dodgers and Washington Nationals completed Game 5 — as well as their National Division Series.

The game began at 8:08 p.m. (EDT), and three-plus hours had elapsed by the time I woke in France, at about 5:15 a.m. (Friday morning).

As I was booting up the laptop I was guessing at a final score — 7-1 Nationals?

It was Dodgers 4-1 … but in the top of the seventh inning.

I had joined the 66-minute seventh inning of what would be a 4-hour-and-32-minute game.

Both the game and the seventh inning could be considered classics of managerial chess matches. (Another ESPN employee, Tim Kurkjian, called it “a ridiculously great” game.)

If you had all day (or all night) to see it unfold.

The time in Washington when this one finally ended, with “closer” Clayton Kershaw striking out Wilmer Difo with runners at first and second, was 12:40 a.m.

Thirteen pitchers threw 323 pitches. The Dodgers used three starting pitchers (Rich Hill, Julio Urias, Kershaw), employed set-up man Joe Blanton in the third and closer Kenley Jansen in the seventh and ace Kershaw in the ninth. The Nationals used seven pitchers, six of them working in the seventh, when the Dodgers scored four runs. The Nationals used 21 of 25 players and had no position players left on the bench, when Difo hit.

It led to a second-guesser’s free-for-all. My biggest question would be why Dusty Baker lifted starter Max Scherzer, who may win the Cy Young Award, after Joc Pederson homered on the first pitch of the seventh, tying the game at 1-1.

So.

Hard to imagine that many fans on the east coast of the U.S. saw the end, on a school night.

At least they know what to expect, going forward.

The first five games (at least) of the National League Championship Series (Dodgers versus Cubs), are scheduled for 8:08 starts, same as tonight’s game.

That would be Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, and maybe the following mornings, too. (Times for Games 6 and 7 are not yet set.)

And, yes, I will now purchase the MLB overseas playoffs package.

If I am unlikely to see any of the starts … odds are decent I will be able to see some of the finishes.