For all the build-up and hype leading into this World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, the actual games on the field had some heavy lifting to do in order to match the expectations.
Well, after Game 1, it seems the baseball world might be in store for a memorable Fall Classic.
Coming off a sprained ankle which had kept Freddie Freeman out of three playoff games and limited him to a .461 OPS this post-season, there were some questions on just how big of an impact the former NL MVP could have on the World Series.
But as it turns out, no one had a bigger impact on Game 1.
Stepping to the plate with the two outs, bases loaded and down a run in the bottom of the 10th, Freeman provided a swing that will live forever in Dodgers history.
Attacking a first-pitch fastball from Yankees reliever Nestor Cortes Jr., who entered the game to face Shohei Ohtani, Freeman lit up Dodgers Stadium with a 423-foot grand slam into the right-field bleachers.
The blast was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history and only the second ever in the post-season.
Of course, it’s not the first time a hobbled Dodgers star has hit a walk-off home run while trailing. In 1988, an injured Kirk Gibson took Oakland Athletics reliever and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley deep to give L.A. a Game 1 win.
From the heroics of Freeman’s slam to the historical comparisons, sports fans tackled it all on social media in the aftermath of one of the most memorable beginnings to a World Series in recent memory. Here are some of the best reactions: