Freddie Freeman Heroic’s Steal the Show in World Series Game 1

Thirty-six years and 10 days after the most iconic World Series home run in franchise history, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally delivered the sequel.

This one followed all the rules of any great Hollywood sequel: Bigger. Grander. A higher budget. And, of course, more dramatic.

Stepping to the plate with two outs, the bases loaded and his team trailing 3–2, Freddie Freeman entered his name into the Dodgers’ lengthy October lore with a walk-off grand slam to give Los Angeles a 6–3 win over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.

Freeman, who’s still recovering from a sprained ankle, didn’t have quite the pronounced limp that Kirk Gibson did in 1988 when he stepped to the plate in the game’s climactic moment. But the end result was just as pronounced—just as thrilling—as his predecessor’s. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, and it came when his team was one out away from falling in an 0–1 hole and surrendering home field advantage.

Instead, with one swing no one who saw it will ever forget, Freeman flipped the script.

Here are six takeaways from a wild Game 1.

Freeman steals the show

In the buildup to the most anticipated World Series in years (decades?), most of the talk centered around Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts and Giancarlo Stanton. Freeman, a former MVP himself, was listed lower on the casting sheet, in large part because he was playing through an ankle sprain suffered just before the start of the postseason that has clearly hampered him in October. He missed two of the Dodgers’ final three games in the National League championship series, and prior to Friday had gone 7-for-32 (.219) during the playoffs with no extra-base hits.

He snapped his extra-base hit drought with a triple in the first inning but was hitless after that leading up to his at-bat in the 10th. With first base open and two outs, the Yankees intentionally walked Betts to load the bases and bring up Freeman against lefty Nestor Cortes. Freeman jumped on the first pitch he saw, launching it 423 feet into the right field stands to seal himself in October amber forever.

“Just kind of floating,” Freeman said of what his trot around the bases felt like. “Those are the kind of things, when you’re 5 years old with your two older brothers and you’re playing wiffle ball in the backyard, those are the scenarios you dream about, two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game.

“For it to actually happen and get a home run and walk it off to give us a 1–0 lead, that’s as good as it gets right there.”

It was a magical moment for a player who, one day, should have a strong case at making the Hall of Fame.