Game 1 of the World Series lived up to the hype of a Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Yankees Fall Classic, and Freddie Freeman was the hero.
The Dodgers first baseman hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning to cap off a dramatic game. The Yankees had taken the lead in the top of the 10th, 3-2, but Freeman came through with a 423-foot monster of a home run to give his team a 6-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the World Series.
It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
Freeman has been playing hobbled all postseason after spraining his ankle during the last week of the regular season. He didn’t post a single extra-base hit in the NLDS or NLCS, and he sat out some games to rest the ankle, then hit a grand slam and a triple on Friday.
The play was highly reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A’s. In both cases, a first baseman hobbled by an injury delivered a homer to win the game. Gibson’s still reverberates through Dodgers history, and this one will, too, if the Dodgers can get it done in the next few games.
There was plenty of drama before the grand slam as well. The Dodgers scored the first run, but the Yankees responded with a titanic homer from Giancarlo Stanton. Both starting pitchers, Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty, had good starts, but Flaherty came out in line for the loss.
Shohei Ohtani led the game-tying rally in the eighth inning, smashing a double, taking third on an error and scoring on a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly. The Yankees nearly took the lead in the ninth, but a Gleyber Torres fly ball caught by a fan ended up being ruled a double.
In the top of the 10th inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. small-balled the Yankees to the lead. He singled off top Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen, stole second and third, then scored on an RBI fielder’s choice from Anthony Volpe. It could have been a huge win for the Yankees, but it ended up being history for the Dodgers.
The series continues with Game 2 on Saturday, with Los Angeles’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto and New York’s Carlos Rodón scheduled to start.
Here’s how it all went down at Yahoo Sports:
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Vin Scully’s call of Kirk Gibson’s 1988 WS G1 walk-off home run vs Joe Davis’s call of Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam:
HIGH FLY BALL INTO RIGHT FIELD, SHE IS GONE!
SHE IS GONE! GIBBY, MEET FREDDIE! GAME ONE OF THE WORLD SERIES!
This is what baseball is all about. pic.twitter.com/x2Lu6RuaS1
— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) October 26, 2024
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