In the first game of the World Series the New York Yankees played against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both teams were expected to carry on their incredible performances from both Championship series’ with the Yankees beating the Cleveland Guardians and the Dodgers beating the New York Mets. Giancarlo Stanton and Tommy Edman respectively had bright lights upon them due to winning ALCS and NLCS MVPs.
Game one opened with the trade deadline for the Dodgers’ Jack Flahrety and Yankees’ Ace Gerrit Cole. Both pitchers batted at least five innings and gave up one earned run for Cole, and two for Flaherty. Both teams looked in prime position for winning, as both rosters had incredible bullpens, ranking No. four and No. six respectively in terms of earned run average (ERA).
Both teams ended up remaining tied until the top of the 10th inning, with Anthony Volpe driving in Jazz Chisom Jr on a fielder’s choice to Tommy Edman. Going into the bottom of the 10th inning with the Yankees winning and trying to remain on top, reliever Luke Weaver walked Gavin Lux and gave up a base hit single to Edman putting two men on for perennial NL MVP Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani induces a flyout to Alex Verdugo who dives into the stands to catch the ball, but leads to Lux going to third and Edmand going to second.
Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases and try to gain pitching advantage for replacement reliever Nestor Cortes Jr against a hobbled Freddie Freeman. On the very first pitch of the at-bat, Freeman hit the very first walk-off grand slam in World Series history to let the Dodgers go up 1-0 against the Yankees.
With Game one setting a stage for the Dodgers and especially Freeman, the Dodgers went on to win the series four games to one, with Freeman taking home the World Series MVP not only for his game one heroics, but also for setting a major league record for consecutive World Series games with a homerun. With this continued momentum from the series, the Dodgers would go on to win the next two games, mounting an improbable comeback in game five and coming back from a five run deficit to win their eighth championship in franchise history.
