Something not so funny happened to the San Diego Padres on their way to the National League Championship. They ran into a Los Angeles Dodgers team that once again showed its mettle.

The Dodgers defeated the Padres 8-0 on Wednesday in the NL Division Series after losing two straight games. Instead of their season being kaput, the Dodgers are brought back to life.

This sets up a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday at Dodger Stadium, with the winner facing the visiting New York Mets on Sunday with a trip to the World Series on the line.

The Padres have looked like world beaters since dropping the opening game of this series.

While the Dodgers were scrambling to pitch, building a lineup due to injuries and battling the curse of the last two Octobers when they lost in their opening rounds, San Diego was cruising.

But they hit a rough patch before another reached a record 47,773 people, and suddenly their clear path to the NLCS showed a few speed bumps.

Mookie Betts spoiled the game-clinching celebration early when he went deep for the second consecutive game, hitting a solo home run in the first and ultimately it was one that left fielder Jurickson Profar unable to get a glove on.

“I just want to do my part,” Betts said. “I’m not trying to win the game for us. We have plenty of guys who can win games for us.”

The Dodgers would add two more runs in the second inning, chasing starter Dylan Cease. Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single just past first baseman Luis Arraez and Betts came through again with a run-scoring hit for a 3-0 lead.

Padres manager Mike Shildt rolled the dice on starting Cease on three days’ rest and it paid off with snake eyes. Cease needed 38 pitches to record five outs in an uneven performance following his implosion in a Game 1 loss to the Dodgers.

“They just took a big swing at him,” Shildt said. “The guy throws 100 (mph). If you tell me I can get a guy to start throwing 100 with a good slider, I’m going to get that guy every time.

The end is over for this series and many felt the same way about the Dodgers. But before the Padres could punch their ticket to the NLCS, they brought along a haymaker from LA

Max Muncy, who gets booed more at Petco Park than anyone not named Dave Roberts, led off the third with a double. He didn’t stay in second for long as Will Smith smoked a home run to center, a 400-foot shot that exploded off his bat at 110 miles per hour and it was high-fived in the Dodgers dugout with a 5-0 lead.

The Dodgers’ pitching plans were in trouble, forcing them to become relievers for a bullpen game. Righthander Ryan Brasier was the opener, but he faced only one batter in the second inning as LA’s bullpen gate swung open early and often.

The Padres seemed hampered by the many arms they had to decipher. But they had a key opportunity in the fifth, when the heart of their lineup came out, but they couldn’t cash in.

David Peralta singled and Jake Cronenworth walked with no outs. But Alex Vesia fanned Kyle Higashioka and sent Arraez flying. Vesia made way for Evan Phillips and he brought in Fernando Tatis Jr. out after a flight to midfield.

The Dodgers could score a few more runs, but what worries the punchless Padres is their lack of pop.

Since their six-run second inning on Tuesday, the Padres’ bats have gone silent amid the noise of Petco Park as they have gone 15 scoreless after going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

They managed just seven hits against Brasier and seven co-relievers.

“It’s a very tough task,” Tatis said. “But at the end of the day, it’s baseball. Obviously it’s not the results we want as a group, but man, we’ll just regroup and figure it out.”

These rabid fans were eager to cheer for anything and anyone wearing brown and gold, but San Diego’s offense was lacking in what could be the Padres’ final home game.

Or they could return on Sunday to wrestle the Mets as they seek their third World Series in franchise history.

But first comes a Friday date with a franchise steeped in history, and suddenly one that gains momentum as it heads north on Interstate 5.

Sounds strange after many wrote off the 98-win Dodgers, but this series still has miles to go.