Freddie Freeman etched his name in Dodgers World Series history

A Clash of the Titans. A meeting of the Goliaths. An old fashioned heavyweight fight.

Leading up to this year's World Series, there wasn't a cliché that was too over the top for the moment. No superlative is too great to exaggerate the matchup.

Dodgers vs. Yankees. Shohei Ohtani vs. Aaron Judge. Baseball's annual Fall Classic is in the spotlight like few others in recent memory.

And then, in Game 1 on Friday night, it started in the most dramatic way possible.

With one hit in the 10th inning, Freddie Freeman etched his name into Dodgers October history.

With the team trailing by a run in the 10th inning, Freeman came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. He got a first-pitch fastball over the inside half of the plate. He then delivered a historic and remarkable swing, launching a walk-off grand slam deep into the right pavilion. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.

Final score: Dodgers 6, Yankees 3.

A World Series of epic proportions that began with a moment that will live long in the memory.

The 10th inning started ominously for the Dodgers as the Yankees jumped to the lead thanks to Jazz Chisholm's aggressive baserunning.

After giving up a one-out single against Blake Treinen, the Dodgers' top reliever, Chisholm broke out to second with Anthony Rizzo at the plate and stole the base with relative ease. After the Dodgers intentionally struck out Rizzo in a 3-0 count, Chisholm was on the move again one hit later, making a big jump on Treinen's slow throw to steal third without throwing a throw.

With runners on the corners, Roberts opted to pull the infield against Anthony Volpe. The play didn't work, Volpe hit a sharp grounder up the middle that knocked shortstop Tommy Edman off his knees, and only managed a second ball as Chisholm scored the go-ahead run.

Doesn't matter.

In the bottom of the 10th, Gavin Lux started the rally with a walk. Edman hit a ground ball that Oswaldo Cabrera couldn't cleanly field at second. Then both runners advanced when left fielder Alex Verdugo sprinted to catch a fly ball from Ohtani, but spun over the short wall in foul ground and went out of play.

That left the Yankees with a decision.

Let left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes, who made his first postseason appearance after missing the first two rounds due to injury, pitch to Mookie Betts. Or intentionally walk him with first base open, setting up a left-left matchup with Freeman.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone chose the latter. He didn't have to wait long to regret the decision.

Despite being limited all postseason by a severe right ankle sprain and finishing the National League Championship Series with a 1-for-15 loss, Freeman was doing better this week – and also benefited from a four-day break before the World Series as a breakthrough with his swing in the batting cage.

Freeman focused on a new mental cue in the box — one in which he tried to imagine “stepping out” with his injured lead foot, more as a mental trigger than anything else — and fired a first-pitch fastball over the inside half of the plate .

The ball found its way. A 109 mile per hour line cruise flew through the night.

Freeman raised his bat in the air as 52,394 exploded around him at Dodger Stadium. The ball disappeared into the pavilion on the right; not far from where Kirk Gibson, battling his own leg injuries 36 years earlier, hit his legendary two-run walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

“Everything was the same,” noted manager Dave Roberts. “Outside the fist pumps.”

Instead, Freeman hit first base coach Clayton McCullough with a low high five. He flexed his arms as he made the second round. As he reached the home stretch, his teammates waited at the plate with their arms raised and mouths open to celebrate.

“It felt like nothing, just kind of floating,” Freeman said. “These are the scenarios you dream about: two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game. For it to actually happen and for us to hit a home run and put the ball up 1-0 is the best thing right off the bat.”

The sequence made everything else on Friday night seem like a footnote.

The early pitcher duel between Jack Flaherty (5 ⅓ innings, two runs, six strikeouts) and Gerrit Cole (six innings, one run, four strikeouts).

Giancarlo Stanton's two-run home run in the sixth inning gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

Even Ohtani's eighth-inning double — a line drive off the wall that left him at third after a cutoff throw eluded second baseman Gleyber Torres — set Betts up for the game-winning sacrifice fly.

In a series that barely lived up to the hype, Freeman delivered a moment that won't soon be forgotten.

“It's pretty good for us to get our first win, especially in this way,” said Freeman, always understated. “But we still have three to go.”