In 2015 it was 3,764,815.

In 2016 it was 3,703,312.

In 2017 it was 3,765,856.

In 2018 it was 3,857,500.

Last year, it was 3,974,309.

Since 1988, it is 103,379,514.

Or 103 million, 379 thousand, 5 hundred and 14.

What are those numbers?

Two cloying realities confronted Major League Baseball as the 2020 playoffs reached the League Championship Series.

–One was the lingering odor of scandal-not-really-resolved — the Houston Astros’ schemes for stealing signs in the 2017 and 2018 World Series and the involvement of players — none of whom were punished.

–The other issue was the awkwardness of a losing team, like the Astros were in the regular season, making a run in baseball’s expanded, 16-team pandemic tournament.

If they were going to get away with high crimes and misdemeanors (sports division), isn’t there some way we could get them out of the playoffs after that 29-31 “regular” season?

If ever the Dodgers needed a strong performance from Julio Urias, tonight is the night.

As far back as 2016, when the Mexican left-hander made his Major League debut at the age of 19, Urias was on the periphery of “key Dodgers”. But a variety of setbacks retarded his advancement to that inner circle.

I posted an item late and in a hurry last night; I wanted to make sure my lightning-bolt of insight — that the Miami Heat was a better team than the Los Angeles Lakers — could be seen before Game 6 of the NBA Finals tipped off.

It was close, but there it was: the Heat was ready to win the final two games and become NBA champions.

Ha! Not my worst idea, but somewhere in the bottom quartile of ridiculous predictions.

But I can say this still holds: I said I would be happy to be proved wrong, if the Lakers won. Which they did in overwhelming fashion, 106-93.

Ahead of Game 1 in the NBA finals, 17 of 25 ESPN basketball reporters — described as “experts” by the website — predicted the Lakers would emerge victorious.

Of course, that was before observers realized that the Heat is just plain better than the Lakers.

That was hammered home the other night when the Heat held off the Lakers despite a 40-point game by LeBron James.

The Lakers’ lead in the series is now 3-2. Later tonight it will be tied, with a fraught Game 7 on Tuesday that Miami should win given that it has better players, overall.

I blame LeBron for NBA fans being surprised at any of this.

I need the Lakers to close out the NBA Finals tonight.

Because I have money on them? Because I have become a fan of LeBron James? Because I can’t stand to see them lose?

Nope.

I need them to win so I can get a little sleep.

A downside for an American living in France?

Following our favorite sports teams in real time … is a real test of a body clock.

During the 50 years or so when I lived in Southern California, the team commitment test was being allowed to stay up “late” and watch the Lakers or Rams or Dodgers (the few times a year the latter were on television).

Seeing my teams play (and UCLA basketball was in there, too) … was about having homework done when games east of the Pacific Time Zone were already playing.

Over here, in Europe, we can get nearly everything on TV, even in American sports, if we are willing to pay for it.

The problem is being awake when the games are being played in Los Angeles — nine hours behind most of Europe.

Much of the time, I just let my sleep center decide if I can remain awake long enough to see games start in the Pacific time zone … or whether I can wake up in the wee small hours and catch up on games that are in progress when Europe is asleep.

Here is the secret to the NBA’s success:

It is so personal.

In no other major team sport are the competitors so clearly revealed to the audience, or to each other. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

These are giants who compete in teams of five, in their underwear, on a crowded stage, where some of their soaring leaps bring to mind Nureyev and others the down-force violence of a ton of bricks.

They play a game that calls for subtle tactics and but also for sheer athleticism and foot speed that always seems set at fortissimo.

It is a personal game because the distances are so small. The court is 94 feet from end to end, 50 feet across. NBA players can go from one end to the other in a matter of a few strides. During a game, they do lots of bumping and pushing. Lots of sweat flies around.

Most of the best players know each other. That leads to rivalries often deep and certainly real, with players jostling for position in the game’s hierarchy, for reasons of glory, ego, money.

Which brings us to Game 4 of the NBA Finals game tonight between LeBron James and the Lakers versus Jimmy “Buckets” Butler and the Miami Heat.

Well, here we are. A city, a metropolitan center that had to be content (in terms of the Big Four professional sports leagues) with a couple of Stanley Cup championships over the previous decade. Now, L.A. finds out if its favorite two clubs can win titles in the same month.

Los Angeles is overrun by sports teams. If we count Orange County as part of greater Los Angeles, and we should, it is a market with two NFL teams, two NBA teams, two Major League Baseball teams and two National Hockey League teams and, well, that is no fewer than eight “top-drawer” clubs in a single market.

Lots to like. But we like the Lakers and the Dodgers best. Our favorites. Each starved for trophies that used to come their way with regularity.

For the Lakers, it has been a decade since NBA title No. 16 was secured. For the Dodgers, it has been 31 years since World Series No. 6 was achieved, back in 1988.

Now, “thanks” to the lethal Covid-19 pandemic, and the doggedness with which the NBA and Major League Baseball fought to save enough of their seasons to make it feel like the real deal, we shall see, in 29 days or less, whether the Dodgers and Lakers can bring some joy to their fans.

Each has a legitimate shot at winning. If both win, it would mean (or would have, in pre-pandemic days) downtown parades barely two weeks apart.

Who has the better chance of winning it all?

Hey, no pressure, but …

–The Lakers are one championship behind the Boston Celtics for the most NBA titles, 17. They could catch their green arch-rivals by winning The Bubble Finals in Florida.

—LeBron James already has passed Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in career scoring, has only Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in front of him, and is perhaps a fourth NBA title away from greatest-of-all-time discussion.

Of course, this all depends on the Lakers defeating the Denver Nuggets in the conference finals, beginning tonight, and then the Eastern Conference winners, Miami or those guys, the Celtics.

Some significant legacies are at stake.

It must be tough being a Clippers fan. Well, heck, yeah, it is.

The franchise has been around for a half-century now and has never played in an NBA Finals, let alone won one.

The odometer rolled over to 50 seasons of failure last night when the Denver Nuggets completed a comeback from 3-1 down to breeze past the discombobulated Clips 104-89 in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.

And the answer to a question posed in August is, “No, you cannot have a Lakers-Clippers showdown in the conference finals.”