Dodgers stun Yankees as a World Series for the ages begins in Hollywood

As a country faces electoral chaos, possible civil unrest and the threat of nuclear war, the renewal of the nation’s most revered athletic rivalry promises to provide a welcome distraction.

Yankees vs. Dodgers. Whether in the Bronx, Brooklyn or Los Angeles, both teams have written an encyclopedia of memorable, magical moments during their World Series showdowns dating back more than eighty years. This year’s renewal, which began Friday evening at Dodger Stadium, has already left a unique mark.

Freddie Freeman became the first player in Major League history to win a World Series game with a walk-off grand-slam home run, giving the Dodgers a 6–3 victory in 10 innings.

“It might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “and I’ve witnessed some great ones.”

Freeman is one of six former Most Valuable Players on the two teams’ combined rosters, a Series record. Two, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the Yankees, won the three previous American League MVP awards, with Ohtani representing the Los Angeles Angels. Both belong to a galaxy that also includes Juan Soto, Mookie Betts and Gerrit Cole.

But before the first pitch of the first game, the sold-out crowd of 52,394 focused on mourning.

Fernando Valenzuela, revered by Dodger fans as an All-Star pitcher and Spanish-language broadcaster, died Tuesday of cancer at the age of 63. The American and Californian flags at midfield and atop the upper deck flew at half-mast. At the main entrance to Dodger Stadium, the large sign welcoming visitors transformed into a miniature shrine with flowers, votive candles, Mexican flags and banners.

Before the game, there was a tribute video, accompanied by live Mariachi music, with photo montages of Valenzuela pitching, hitting, signing autographs and even jumping lariats with Mexican vaqueros. Dodger players wore uniforms with a black sleeve patch with his name in white above his jersey number, 34, in blue with white trim.

Instead of throwing out the first pitch, two of Valenzuela’s former teammates, Steve Yeager and Orel Hershiser, both wearing jerseys with his number on them, commemorated his career by placing the baseball on a “34” that was on the back of the mound stencilled. This was followed by a moment of silence, which fans concluded by chanting Valenzuela’s nickname: “Toro, toro!”

No sporting event in Los Angeles would be complete without entertainment figures observing the action. Friday night’s audience included Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Lawrence, John Legend, Billie Eilish and Finneas, and Flea of ​​the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

No sporting event in Los Angeles would be complete without twists and plot complications fit for Hollywood. Game 1 featured them all. An exciting pitching showdown between Cole of the Yankees and Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers. A chess game in which auxiliary pitchers serve as pieces. Judge – who led the Major Leagues in home runs, runs batted in, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS – struck out three in five at-bats. Pipes taken. Leads lost.

No sporting event in Los Angeles would be complete without the locals displaying some of their laid-back attitude. In the sixth inning, after Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run home run gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, some fans in the stands near the left field foul pole continued a well-known local tradition. They threw a beach ball among themselves.

Even the home team’s video presenters were getting impatient.

“I want you to pretend you’re at the World Series. This is what you wanted,” a female video host shouted into her microphone as the Yankees made a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh.

The end of a recorded, animated message before the 2nd eighth sounded more emphatic: “Wake up, LA!”

The fans woke up that inning when Ohtani doubled off the top of the right-field wall, then took third base when second baseman Gleyber Torres mishandled Soto’s throw. Betts followed with a sacrifice fly that sent Ohtani home and forced a 2-2 tie.

The Yankees regained a 3-2 lead in the top of the tenth. But in the bottom half of the inning — with the bases loaded, two outs and fans chanting his first name — Freeman provided the ultimate incentive by sending Nestor Cortes’ first pitch, a 90-mph fastball, into the middle of the stands. to drive right field.

As the crowd erupted and the ball flew, Freeman held his bat high and began walking toward first base. As soon as the ball cleared the outfield fence, Freeman started trotting. He exchanged a low five with first base coach Clayton McCullough, pointed to left field and smiled, threw off his batting helmet as he ran down the third base line, stomped on home plate and received exuberant hugs from teammates.

Then Freeman went to his father who was sitting near home plate. The two men put their hands through the mesh in celebration.

While enjoying his home run trot, the Dodgers first baseman “just kind of floated,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things, the scenarios you dream about when you’re five years old with your two older brothers and you’re in the backyard dithering: two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game.”

Freeman’s father did his part to help his son progress beyond jumping rope.
“If he didn’t give me batting practice — if he didn’t love the game of baseball — I wouldn’t be playing this game here,” the first baseman said. “He’s been giving me batting practice ever since I can remember. He still gives me batting practice. My swing is because of him. My approach is thanks to him. Thanks to him I am who I am.”

But three days before Freeman made his contribution to America’s most storied athletic rivalry, Flaherty essentially said that one home run doesn’t make a Series.

“It’s going to be a grind,” Flaherty said. “It will be an uphill battle between both sides, and in the end we will give it everything we have.”

Delighted fans lining the left field concourse — including strangers exchanging high fives — might respond with the word they chanted as they left Dodger Stadium.

“Fred-dee, Fred-dee, Fred-dee!”