Freddie Freeman stood close to home plate at Dodger Stadium, where he had just concluded Game 1 of the World Series with an extra-inning grand slam, and attempted to explain what had transpired approximately an hour after the closest thing to a perfect baseball game imaginable. The game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees changed from a pitchers’ battle to a hitting and baserunning masterclass over the course of 10 innings and 3 hours, 27 minutes, creating a memorable event in the 120-year history of the World Series. There are several ways to enjoy baseball at its best. Somehow, this game was able to combine them all into one.
The Dodgers 6 Yankees 3 final score is not very iconic. It is deceptive. The 52,394 people who were fortunate enough to see Game 1 live on Friday witnessed the uncommon athletic event that is abounding with fanfare, only to discover that it was surpassed. The two most well-known baseball teams, true coast-to-coast aristocrats, squared off. Then, 36 years after Kirk Gibson famously did the same, Freeman delivered the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history with a single swing on a first-pitch fastball from Nestor Cortes that was 93 mph.
After saying, “Just look at this game,” Freeman began to enumerate all of the events that had taken place. Baseball with four shutout innings. A sacrifice fly was used by the Dodgers to manufacture a run.Giancarlo Stanton hit a soaring two-run home run in response. Luke Weaver, a reliever for the Yankees, gives the Dodgers a run in return. The Yankees appeared to be ahead on what looked to be a home run by Gleyber Torres, but a Dodgers fan caught it over the fence, and replay verified that it was interference. In the tenth inning, New York tags Blake Treinen, the top reliever for Los Angeles, for a run. Additionally, the Yankees manager Aaron Boone purposefully walked Mookie Betts in the bottom of the 10th inning after a walk and an infield single to bring up Shohei Ohtani, whose foul out to left advanced the runners to second and third. This gave Freeman the opportunity to face Cortes, who hadn’t thrown a pitch since September 18.
“Back-and-forth moments — that’s what creates classics,” Freeman stated. “And I think we created one tonight.”
The tens of millions of people who watched it in Japan, the US, and other countries are aware that they did. Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole second and third before scoring in the tenth inning, demonstrating that great baseball can be as full of good as it is of terrible. Treinen’s sluggish delivery allowed him to do so. It may be ugly (both of the Yankees’ corner outfielders playing doubles into triples) or excellent (Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman rescuing a run in the sixth knocking by holding a grounder in the infield).
Max Muncy, a third baseman for the Dodgers, stated, “Some people think a slugfest is a good game.” “A pitcher’s duel is seen as a nice game by some. I’m not sure. I believe it’s rather enjoyable if you only incorporate a small amount of each component.
There were lots throughout this game. Tension between the starters, right-handers Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty, who were raised in Southern California, existed even before the first pitch. In the early innings, the two players, now facing their former suitors, outperformed one another. The Dodgers had made a valiant attempt to get Cole when he was a free agency, and the Yankees had attempted to trade for Flaherty in July but had backed out.
The Dodgers were behind 2-1 after Stanton’s home run in the sixth inning and the ensuing stare, not to mention Flaherty’s dejected expression upon realizing his error. This was the start of the plot between Boone and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who had paid a hefty price for leaving in Flaherty for the third time in the order. Although it was a wise strategic move, Boone’s turn to Weaver in the eighth inning after Ohtani doubled off the top of the wall and advanced to third due to New York’s careless defense could not stop the Dodgers from matching the game.
Two innings later, it may have been Betts, Ohtani, or basically anyone in the Dodgers’ terrifying top-to-bottom order. It was the most remarkable conclusion possible that it was Freeman, the 35-year-old first baseman.
“I was hoping Mookie would get a hit to take the pressure off him,” said Fred, Freeman’s father, to whom Freeman sprinted through the field’s netting after the home run. “They walked him after that. And I thought, ‘Oh, Freddie, Freddie, Freddie.’ followed by the first pitch.
It has been terrible to watch Freeman during the past month. Not only because he hadn’t managed an extra-base hit in the Dodgers’ first 11 postseason games. Freeman is obviously hurting. His ankle hurts from being sprained. His entire body hurts. He is a 2021 World Series champion with Atlanta, an eight-time All-Star, and a potential Hall of Famer. He had already experienced a terrible year when his 3-year-old son, Max, was afflicted with Guillain-Barré syndrome. In the hopes that his five days off since the NLCS would help his body enough to perform anything noteworthy, Freeman persisted in pushing through the discomfort.
He was prepared to, as seen by his hobbling around the bases after his first-inning triple. Nobody could have predicted that the conclusion would be even greater.
Anthony Banda, a reliever with the Dodgers, stated, “In my opinion, he’s a superhero, really, honestly and truly.” “Seeing him recover from the injury, the amount of time he spent in rehab, and his efforts to get well, return to the field, and do all in his power to do so speaks volumes about him as a player and a person. This group is very important to him. He is concerned about the company. We are all motivated by his desire to succeed.
That applies to all players on the field on Friday, including the Yankees, who now have to bounce back from the most gut-wrenching blow possible. The good news is that there is still a lot of baseball to be played, the Yankees have a ton of chances to do it, and the bar has been raised to an extremely high level for the remainder of the series.
It is dishonest to assume that any of the games, no matter how many are left, can match Game 1 unless this is the kind of series where magic happens all the time and two teams are so good, evenly matched, prepared for the moment, and eager to win that the hype is only a motivator. Perhaps Saturday night’s Game 2 builds on what Game 1 so obviously accomplished.
“The ending,” remarked Kiké Hernández, a center fielder for the Dodgers. “I mean, it doesn’t get better than that.”
Actually, Hernández is forgetting one thing, which is why it does. It’s only the beginning when it comes to the Dodgers and Yankees, the 120th World Series, and this titanic matchup, which has so much more outstanding baseball in it.