It’s just the League Division Series, right? Well, baseball fans, the 2012 postseason has seen some incredible highlights that all boil down to tonight’s two Game Five’s (Orioles at Yankees, 5:07 p.m. ET, followed by Cardinals at Nationals at 8:37 p.m. ET, both on TBS). Here’s some tidbits:

• All four Division Series go the full five games for the first time (previous high was 2011, when 19 of potential 20 games were played).
• The first 16 years of the Wild Card era (1995-2010) saw a total of 14 Division Series Game 5’s. The past two years have treated us to seven.
• There have been eight one-run games in the Division Series, tied with last year for the most ever (the record for an entire Postseason is 13, also set last year).
• Jayson Werth’s walk-off home run Thursday was the third walk-off hit of the Division Series (and third in just 20 hours), tying 1981, 1995, 1997 and 2003 for most in a single year of Division Series.
• The Yankees-Orioles ALDS is only the third Postseason series ever with back-to-back 12+ inning games (2004 ALCS, 1986 NLCS).
• Justin Verlander became the first pitcher ever with multiple 10+ strikeout performances in a single series. Homer Bailey and Adam Wainwright also had 10+ strikeouts in a start, and the four total performances tie this Division Series with 2010 for the most ever.
• The Giants became the first team ever to come back from down 0-2 in a Division Series by winning the final three games on the road. They are just the sixth team overall to come back from down 0-2 in the DS.
• The Yankees & Orioles have played 41 of 43 innings in this ALDS either tied or within one run.

Source: Major League Baseball

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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