LOS ANGELES -- I'm still in awe. My jaw is on the Dodger Stadium floor. Did we all just witness the best Game 1 in World Series history?
It's entirely possible. I can't in good conscience declare it the best World Series game ever because there was no one facing elimination. The best World Series games are Game 7s (1960, 1991, 2014, 2016, etc.). There were some other elite-tier games later in the series in recent memory (how about 2011 Game 6?). But holy smokes, what more could we have asked for from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees?
To use a quote from another historic Game 1 in this ballpark -- and we'll get to that -- I don't believe what I just saw.
The win probability chart after the fifth inning resembles the Rocky Mountains, where we'll be crossing hopefully twice this series.
I was going to say I'm not even sure where to begin, but we have to begin where it ended, obviously, the swing that made the scoreboard read Dodgers 6, Yankees 3. Freddie Freeman was on one leg in the NLCS. He has a sprained right ankle and the smart money is on him not making it to the end of the series if it's a long one.
He moved gingerly in warmups this afternoon. Five hours later, he hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
Yes, the World Series has been played every year since 1905 and there were even nine before that. This is the 120th World Series and there has never before been the play that we just witnessed to end the instant classic that was Game 1.
If this wasn't the greatest Game 1 in World Series, perhaps it was another hobbled player right here in Dodger Stadium hitting a walk-off homer. Yep, this one definitely felt at least a little reminiscent of Kirk Gibson's legendary game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers against the A's.
Freeman was asked about the Gibson homer after the game.
"I played the whole game, though," he joked, as Gibson was only a pinch hitter in his timeless moment.
It is amazing to consider two of the greatest Game 1s in World Series history both happened in Dodger Stadium with MVPs (Gibson won his in 1988, though Freeman's was back in 2020) hitting hobbled home runs.
To be fair, last year's Game 1 was pretty incredible, too, with Corey Seager's game-tying homer in the ninth leading to Adolis García's walk-off homer in the 10th, but let's be real: That series included an 84-win Diamondbacks team. This one has the two No. 1 seeds in the playoffs and arguably baseball's two biggest brands. We're going to find out the ratings pretty soon, but -- spoiler alert -- they're going to be very high compared to any recent World Series. To all the casual fans out there who rarely watch baseball: It isn't always this awesome, but the 2024 World Series was always bound to deliver and then some. These are great and relatively evenly matched teams.
Just look at all the big moments in this one.
Starting pitchers Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole put zeroes on the board against two totally loaded offense through four-and-a-half innings. The Dodgers were able to get a run in the fifth, but then big Giancarlo Stanton crushed a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
It actually looked like that score might hold, but then Shohei Ohtani sent a rocket to right field in the bottom of the eighth. Gleyber Torres misplayed the throw into second base and that allowed Ohtani to take third. He came home on a sac fly.
The Ohtani shot looked like it might be a game-tying homer off the bat, but he came home nonetheless. In the top of the ninth, it looked like Gleyber Torres might've hit the go-ahead home run, but it was actually robbed by a Dodgers fan. It was correctly ruled a double with fan interference, but surely many Yankees fans had visions of Jeffrey Maier, making it another memorable moment. Torres would be stranded.
And then we went to extra innings for the third straight World Series Game 1. How about that?
The Yankees grabbed a run after Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole second and third. He had three steals in the game, becoming the first player to ever do so in his World Series debut. He's rendered to a footnote now.
With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Gavin Lux drew a walk, meaning only a double play would prevent Shohei Ohtani from coming to the plate as the winning run. Yankees pitcher Jake Cousins got his groundball, but Oswaldo Cabrera at second -- in for Torres -- had to dive for the grounder and misplayed it. Everyone was safe and two runners were on for Ohtani.
The Yankees then brought in Nestor Cortes, who hadn't yet pitched in the playoffs due to injury. He got Ohtani to foul out on an incredible play by left fielder Alex Verdugo, who fell into the netting. It was a big deal, because him falling into the net allowed the runners to move up to second and third. With a lefty on the mound, Mookie Betts coming to the plate and lefty-swinging/hobbled Freeman coming to the plate, it seemed like an easy decision to walk Betts.
Then Freeman hit his first home run since Sept. 16. He didn't even have an extra-base hit in the playoffs before his "triple" (it should've been a double and an error on Verdugo) in the first inning in this one. With that injured ankle, he loses some power from his swing. It just didn't seem realistic to imagine he'd be able to park one.
And yet he did just that, crushing a 92.5 mph fastball 409 feet. If the Dodgers win this World Series, that will go down in history alongside Gibson's unlikely blast in 1988, but this game was more than just one swing of the bat.
Man, we saw everything. Great pitching. Great defensive plays. Defensive gaffes. Big-time home runs, including one that'll go down as legend. It was a signature moment.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts once had one of those. Remember, he stole a base that led to a Red Sox comeback in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. His steal started a chain reaction that led to one of the most famous series comebacks in sports. And yet, he says Game 1 of the 2024 World Series might be the biggest thing he's ever seen.
"It's arguably one of the -- might be the greatest baseball moment I've ever witnessed, and I've witnessed some great ones," Roberts said after the game. "... Just pure elation. You don't see teams celebrate after a game, a walk-off like that, but I just think it was certainly warranted. Man, it was a great game before that, but the way it finished, I just couldn't be more excited for our guys."
Roberts, too, recalled the Gibson home run.
"That's iconic," he said. I think we win three more games, that's going to be right up there with it."
Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was already a classic when it went to extra innings. That Freeman swing made it legendary. And we might have six more of these.
Now everyone catch your breath and we'll do it again Saturday.
