With one swing of the bat, Freddie Freeman ensured the most anticipated World Series in years would live up to the hype.
With his Los Angeles Dodgers trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning, down to their last out, Freeman took the first pitch he saw into the right field grandstand at Dodger Stadium and sent more than 50,000 fans into delirium as the Dodgers took Game 1 of the World Series by a score of 6-3. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
It was a moment that echoed one of the most famous swings in baseball history – Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series at the same ballpark. The parallels were uncanny: Freeman, like Gibson, is hobbled by a leg injury that has nagged him throughout the playoffs and the ball landed in the exact same grandstand that Gibson’s home run landed 36 years ago.
Freeman yelled “I like that” as teammates dumped cold water on him to celebrate the victory.
“That’s stuff [when] you’re five years old in the backyard right there,” Freeman told the FOX broadcast. “That’s a dream come true, but that’s only one. We got three more.”
It was a magical October moment that capped off a tense affair that couldn’t be settled in nine innings.
The Dodgers scored the game’s first run in the 5th, but Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton quieted the LA crowd with a massive two-run home run in the 6th inning to put New York ahead 2-1. The Southern California native stood and watched as the moonshot flew deep into the left field stands, a sight that has become familiar throughout Stanton’s stellar playoffs.
The Dodgers tied the game in the 8th inning, sparked by a double and some heads-up base-running from superstar Shohei Ohtani, who advanced to third base on a Yankees error. Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts plated Ohtani with a sacrifice fly.
In the top of the 9th inning, Yankees Gleyber Torres hit what appeared to be a go-ahead homer, but the umpires quickly determined that a fan reached over the wall to catch the ball. Torres was sent to second base with a ground rule double, where he would be stranded when Aaron Judge popped out to end the inning.
The game moved to extra innings, where Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm reached on a single, then stole second and third base before scoring on a fielder’s choice to take the lead in the top of the 10th inning.
But the dramatics at Chavez Ravine were just getting started.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Freeman stepped to the plate two outs and the bases loaded. Still nursing a sprained right ankle, Freeman turned on the first pitch he saw from Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and crushed a towering grand slam into the Los Angeles night to deliver a 6-3 win to deliver a stunning win for the home team.
Friday’s display held extra weight for Freeman after his three-year-old son Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome – a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks nerve cells – earlier this year.
In July, Max went into full paralysis and Freeman left the Dodgers team to be with his family at the hospital. Eventually, doctors said that his son would make a recovery and Freeman rejoined the team in August.
Freeman celebrated the emotional moment on Friday with his dad who was sat in the front of the crowd, and afterwards, the 35-year-old paid tribute to the impact his dad has had on his career.
“He’s been throwing me batting practice since I can remember,” the Dodgers star said afterwards. “That’s mostly his moment. … That’s Fred Freeman’s moment right there.”
Freeman also spoke about the significance of writing his name into the history books through his Game 1 heroics.
“When you get told you do something like that in this game that’s been around a very long time – I love the history of this game, to be a part of it, it’s special,” Freeman said. “I’ve been playing this game a long time, and to come up in those moments, you dream about those moments. Even when you’re 35 and been in the league for 15 years, you want to be a part of those.”
The 120th World Series offers one of the most scintillating matchups in recent memory. With a combined 63 appearances, the Yankees and Dodgers are the most frequent visitors to the Fall Classic. The Yankees, however, stand head and shoulders above Dodgers and the rest of baseball with 41 appearances and an astounding 27 championships.
These two storied franchises have met in the World Series an astounding 11 times, most recently in 1981. The Yankees have prevailed in eight of the previous encounters.
The Dodgers are now three wins away from claiming their eighth World Series crown, with the two teams set to meet again Saturday in Los Angeles for Game 2 in the best-of-seven series.
This story has been updated with additional information.