Dodgers pitcher Joel Peralta went on the disabled list twice in 2015. (Getty Images)

This is Part 36 of a series in which every member of the 2015 Dodgers has his season juxtaposed with an episode of the greatest sitcom of all-time. Don’t take it too seriously.

Joel Peralta, RP

Key stats: 3-1 record, 3 saves, 4.34 earned-run average in 33 games (0 starts)

Seinfeld episode: “The Pen” (Season 3, Episode 3)

Key quote: “Oh man. What is with this bar? It’s right in my back. It’s killing me.”

The most surprising thing about Joel Peralta’s season is that it didn’t end until the Dodgers played their final game in October. His career almost ended before the season did.

As the team’s oldest player (Peralta turned 39 last March), maybe it wasn’t so surprising that he missed 62 games in the regular season nursing separate injuries — a nerve issue in his neck in April and a sprained neck/shoulder muscle in August.

The former injury was particularly bad. Peralta said he swept awkwardly on his neck and woke up the next morning with a dead arm. After going weeks without noticing an iota of improvement, Peralta was told he might need corrective surgery, a procedure that had the potential to end his career.

Fortunately the arm improved and Peralta was able to return June 23. Unfortunately, he simply didn’t pitch well. Over the next 47 days, Peralta appeared in 18 games. He gave up 12 runs in 14 ⅓ innings. Opponents collected a .985 OPS against him.

It seemed a convenient piece of timing, then, when Peralta was placed on the 15-day disabled list Aug. 11 for a sprain on the right side of his neck. At the time, he admitted that his neck was “just a little bit uncomfortable” — but uncomfortable enough for him to be shut down for the next three weeks.

A funny thing happened when Peralta came back: He pitched really well for the first time since April. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11 in nine innings, allowing only two runs (both solo home runs). That performance was neither too little nor too late for Peralta to earn a spot on the Dodgers’ NLDS roster, leapfrogging both Juan Nicasio and Carlos Frias on the depth chart for right-handed middle relievers. Peralta retired all three batters he faced in Game 1 and didn’t pitch again in the series.

The Dodgers didn’t pick up Peralta’s option for 2016, but Andrew Friedman left the door open for his return. The door’s still open. Given the way he finished, crazier things could happen than a 40-year-old Peralta returning to the Dodgers in spring training.

In “The Pen,” (named after a writing utensil and not the place where relief pitchers are herded), Elaine sleeps on a low-quality fold-out bed at Jerry’s parents house and can’t go scuba diving the next day because of a bar that injures her back.

Is this how Peralta felt when he rolled out of bed that fateful April morning?