Dodgers' Freddie Freeman channels Kirk Gibson with walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series

An unlikely year.

An impossible situation.

A player injured in one leg.

An immortal walk-off World Series homer.

It all feels surreal, like deja vu on the grandest scale.

Did Freddie Freeman really just channel Kirk Gibson, reigniting the spirit of a moment forever etched in the hearts of Dodgers fans from 36 years ago?

Did the Los Angeles Dodgers really steal victory from the jaws of defeat in Game 1 of the World Series with one lead remaining?

Yes. Yes, they did.

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When Freeman stumbled into the batter’s box on a cool, crisp Friday night, opposite New York Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes, the tension in Dodger Stadium buzzed with electricity, like a swarm of bees trapped in a jewelry box.

Much like Gibby before him, Freddie was hampered by a sprained ankle that kept him in and out of the lineup throughout the postseason.

The reality was that Freeman was a shadow of himself at the plate because of the injury. He was hitting .219 with no home runs, no extra base hits and just one RBI in the playoffs until the greatest moment of his life happened to him.

Surely this weak, feeble and one-legged former MVP can’t do the impossible?

52,394 fans all held their collective breath; the Yankees could feel victory just inches from their mighty grasp.

And then the ball erupted from Freeman’s bat like an explosive fireworks display on the Fourth of July. TEAR! The sound echoed through the Chavez Canyon and traveled all the way back to the Bronx.

As the ball sailed halfway across the right-field pavilion, Dodger Stadium shook with the sheer force of the crowd realizing they had just witnessed something enchanting and magical. It’s something they’ll talk about for the rest of their lives, something they’ll one day ask others: Do you remember where you were when Freddie Freeman came to bat in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 1 of the 2024 World Championships? Series?

“That was awesome,” said Max Muncy, the last Dodgers player to hit a walk-off homer in the World Series at Dodger Stadium. “To feel the ground shaking from the crowd. To see the reactions of all our teammates, it was just an incredible moment.”

As Freeman watched the first-ever walk-off grand slam in World Series history fly, he looked back at his father sitting behind home plate and pointed his bat toward the sky, as if to say to Fernando Valenzuela, “We got you . ”

As he nonchalantly let go of his bat and walked around the bases, all the emotion of the last three months of his life flooded the field.

Freeman played through a broken finger earlier this year and missed two weeks in late July after his three-year-old son Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. causing weakness, numbness and, in Max’s case, full-body paralysis.

“The past few months have been a lot. It was a grind,” Freeman said, reflecting on his tumultuous journey to this moment. “I love the history of this game, so to be a part of it is special.”

Freeman returned to the team, but suffered a high ankle sprain in the final game of the regular season at Dodger Stadium. A 7-2 win that gave the Dodgers their 11th NL West pennant in the past twelve seasons.

“Knowing what Freddie has been through, it’s super special for him to have this moment,” said teammate Mookie Betts, who was intentionally walked so Freeman could get his chance at the plate. “I’m glad it was him who did it.”

FOX broadcaster Joe Davis called the moment, in a nod to legendary Dodgers voice Vin Scully, with the same words that etched Gibson’s historic homer into baseball history: “She’s gone!”

And like Scully before him, it felt perfect and timeless. Instead of Scully’s classic call, “In a year so improbable, the impossible happened.” Davis created a new chapter when he said, “Gibby, meet Freddie,” and in that moment it wasn’t just a home run; it was a cinematic score playing out before our eyes.

As Freeman limped around the bases, he leaned toward the bullpen, shouting and screaming in elation as his teammates stormed home plate, waiting for their hero in an ecstatic frenzy.

“Everything was the same outside of the fist pumps,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joked about how Freeman’s homer compared to Gibson’s. “Gibson’s was iconic. I think if we win three more games, Freddie’s will be up there.”

The parallels between the two magical moments are uncanny.

Both Gibson and Freeman were the underdogs at this point, physically compromised, with their backs against the wall, their teams down to their final out.

They all saw a rally come from a walk, and they all ended up hitting a pitch deep into the same part of the pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

“Freddie will be a celebrity on the first ballot. Every time he steps up to the plate, one foot or not, you feel pretty good about what he can do,” said Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux, who started the rally with his one-out walk. “You had the feeling he was going to have a big hit there. You could see the look in his eyes. You can’t make it up.”

For the sake of history, there have been 62 walk-offs in the 120 iterations of the World Series.

The Dodgers have had five walk-offs in the World Series.

There have only been three walk-off homers from trailing teams: Joe Carter for the Blue Jays in 1993, Gibson in 1988 and now Freeman in 2024. What do they all have in common besides the burden of history on their shoulders? rest? ? They all made history with one perfect swing.

I was a kid myself when Gibson made his perfect swing. For the next 36 years I listened to the generation older than me talk about where they were and what they were doing when Gibby changed the course of history.

For myself and Dodgers fans around the world, Friday night felt like 1988 all over again. Only for our generation, it was a moment etched in time. As fans hugged and high-fived each other, pointing their camera phones at the field and then at themselves, the echoes of history hung in the air.

“That might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever seen,” Roberts said, eyes glistening with the kind of reverence Gibson had inspired among Dodgers fans for decades. “And I’ve witnessed some great moments. It was just pure elation.”

Minutes after his explosion, Freeman sat on stage to address the media, still buzzing with adrenaline. “I want to go through this table and tackle all of you (laughter),” he joked about how he felt. “This is pretty cool. It’s going to be hard to sleep tonight.”

Perhaps when Freeman falls asleep and begins to dream, he will relive the night in its entirety.

The game began with a solemn tribute to the recently deceased Fernando Valenzuela – the number 34 on the mound, and a moment of silence as the Valenzuela family gathered along the third base line in tears – and then, as if the ravine was filled with the power from Valenzuela herself they started singing “Fer-nand-do…Fer-nan-do…”

Three hours later, those chants changed and eventually grew louder and louder as their hero stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 10th. “Fred-die… Fred-die…”

“Those are the scenarios you dream about when you’re five years old,” Freeman said, smiling like the five-year-old version of himself, looking up, lost in the moment. “Two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game. To actually make it happen and get a walk-off grand slam. That’s as good as it gets there.”

Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night will remain in our hearts and minds for a lifetime. Kirk Gibson couldn’t help but smile and pump his fists wherever he watched the game.

And Dodgers fans?

Well, they believe in the magic of October all over again.