Game 1 of the World Series was about more than just the historic ending

Like all iconic, indelible plays, the home run seemed to erase everything that came before it. The first-pitch fastball changed the fate of the game and secured the eudaimonia of the crowd, and the moment it landed in the seats in right field, Game 1 of the 2024 World Series became the Freddie Freeman game. This was the piece that defined the evening. This was the moment that people will remember.

Which is of course only fair. This was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. It was a two-out, the end of the tenth round, an absolute duel. Freeman hit only Kirk Gibson (1988) and Joe Carter (1993) with a walk-off home run while trailing in the World Series. These games will be remembered decades later by those names alone, and this game rightly will be too. But that almost feels like a shame.

Because this game still had so much to remember. This series could easily have collapsed under the weight of its own hype: New York vs. Los Angeles, heavyweight vs. heavyweight, Yankees vs. Dodgers, Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani. But that first game delivered everything it could have. Much of the discussion surrounding this series has focused on the history, money, and cultural influence. And here was something that simultaneously undermined and overwritten all of that. It was such a damn good baseball game that the discussion couldn't possibly focus on anything else. The headline act will be his final swing, the walk-off of Dodgers first baseman Freeman, a game-winning hit made more dramatic by a badly sprained ankle that had vexed the 2020 National League MVP for weeks. But there was much more than just that headline.

“We all enjoy baseball, we enjoy the game, we’re all fans of it,” Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty said. “It was just an incredible game from both sides.”

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These clubs played in the World Series more than any other couple in history. Their matchup has been discussed, dissected and debated more than any other in recent years. But that first game delivered something no one could have dreamed of.

There were fantastic catches and shocking mistakes. There was a signature postseason home run by Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, which is to say a massive, jaw-dropping mammoth of a moonshot. (The exit velocity was 116.6 miles per hour — harder than any ball hit in the World Series since Statcast began tracking in 2015.) There was an eighth-inning comeback that only served to set up a tenth-inning comeback. There was a crucial fan interference call with two outs early in the ninth. (A fan reached over the outfield wall to pick what would otherwise likely have been a hit by Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres, who was awarded second base even though he ended up stranded there.) There was an absolutely magnificent, albeit ultimately a vain sacrifice. There were somehow several cases of intentionally letting a likely No. 2 hitter in the Hall of Fame walk to get to a likely No. 3 hitter in the Hall of Fame. And then of course there was the game-winning, unprecedented, incredible Grand Slam.

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“To see a game like that,” said Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech, “I don’t have the words for it.” It was unbelievable.”

He's seen more than one game like this. Kopech made the decisive contribution: he finished in a tie in the ninth place and thus appeared in the World Series for the first time in his career. (The right-hander got two quick outs before allowing the hard contact that led to the interference call.) Still, the impact of this play was so great. It felt like everyone was just along for the ride. Even the people involved.

“There was some good pitching, some defense, good hitting, the crowd was there from the first pitch,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was an old-school baseball game.”

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This wasn't exactly a traditional pitchers' duel. But it was as close as you can get in modern postseason baseball. Flaherty had a scoreless outing in the sixth, eventually hitting a home run against Stanton and finishing his night with six strikeouts, five hits and a walk. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw a pitch in the seventh and expertly made his way through a fearsome Dodgers lineup. (The fact that both starters finished sixth was somewhat notable: That didn't happen once in either the ALCS or the NLCS this October.) This was one of the many key factors that made this game memorable. The starting pitchers felt like central characters. They weren't the biggest stars after all. But they were on stage long enough to shape the drama and set the stakes.

An hour later, this resulted in an ending that players won't soon forget. “I don't think I've ever seen a team stay on the field for 20 minutes after the last play just to watch it and take in the fans,” Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen said. who had ended the game for LA when he left the mound thinking he had blown it, only to be saved by his teammates. “It was the most incredible baseball moment I’ve ever seen.”

This sentiment was shared by all the players on the squad, but also by Roberts, who was involved in more than his share of memorable games: That was the greatest baseball moment I've ever seen. That was an honor for Freeman, of course, but it was also an honor for every play before him. The final moment wouldn't have been so enjoyable if the game hadn't been so exciting.