Yankees vs. Dodgers: Freddie Freeman wins Game 1 with first walk-off grand slam in World Series history

Vegas quite likes the Dodgers' chances to win the World Series now. Losing a good Gerrit Cole start will do that, regardless of how it ended.

Anyway, Game 2 is scheduled for 5:08 p.m. PT on Saturday, with Carlos Rodón and Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled to start.

So this game had a Jeffrey Maier and a Kirk Gibson. What more could you want from a Yankees-Dodgers World Series?

Freddie Freeman sprained his ankle in the Dodgers' penultimate series of the regular season. He was clearly hobbled in the NLDS and NLCS, missing games and not recording an extra-base hit.

And then he comes back and hits a triple and a GRAND SLAM. Baseball.

FREDDIE FREEMAN WINS IT. He cranks the first pitch from Cortes into the right-field stands, and the Dodgers take Game 1 6-3 in a classic.

It'll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto against Carlos Rodón in Game 2 on Saturday.

WALK-OFF EXTRA-INNING GRAND SLAM

Wow, Ohtani swings on the first pitch and sends it into foul territory, where Alex Verdugo runs it down for the second out on an acrobatic play. The Yankees opt to walk Mookie Betts and have the left-handed Nestor Cortes face Freddie Freeman, another player returning from injury. This is some drama.

Tommy Edman puts another runner on with a base hit.

And now: Shohei Ohtani. Two on. One out. Bottom of the 10th. He'll face Nestor Cortes, a starting pitcher who has been out for a month due to an elbow injury.

This is why everyone was hyping the 2024 World Series.

Gavin Lux draws a walk against Jake Cousins, which is big. That means, barring a double play, the Dodgers will get Shohei Ohtani to the plate.

Anthony Volpe hits a grounder that Tommy Edman stops, but with no play to home. Jazz Chisholm's legs are now the difference in extra innings.

Chisholm steals third with no throw from Will Smith. It'll be infield in for the Dodgers now.

Jazz Chisholm singles, then steals second. The Yankees have the go-ahead run in scoring position with one out. Anthony Volpe comes up after the Dodgers fall 3-0 behind to Anthony Rizzo and opt to intentionally walk him.

Blake Treinen stays in and gets Giancarlo Stanton on a three-pitch strikeout. That's going to be a very big out for the Dodgers for the rest of the series.

Enrique Hernandez flies out to left field for the final out of the ninth inning. It looked like the pop-up might drop in for a hit, but a charging Alex Verdugo made a diving catch to end the frame.

We're going to the 10th inning!

Luke Weaver threw off Max Muncy's timing with his changeup. Muncy got a pitch right down the middle but didn't get much of it with Weaver taking something off.

Teoscar Hernandez makes the first out of the Dodgers' 9th inning, flying out to right field. He got two fastballs down the middle from Luke Weaver that he fouled off and probably wishes he could have back.

Judge pops out to end the inning with no runs, and that fan interference call is now a potential game-swinging play. The Dodgers have Teoscar Hernandez, Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández due up to face Luke Weaver.

They probably don't want a 10th inning with Giancarlo Stanton due up.

It's hard to not think of the Jeffrey Maier incident in 1998 after that. Difference was it was a fan of the other team who made the play, and the umps made the right call.

The umpires confirm the fan interference. Torres stays at second, and now the Dodgers are pulling Kopech for Blake Treinen after intentionally walking Juan Soto.

WHOA. Gleyber Torres hit what almost looked like a go-ahead homer, but the umpires call fan interference after a fan in Dodgers gear reached over the wall and caught it.

Torres is placed at second, and now Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech will be facing the heart of the Yankees order.

Freddie Freeman flies out to center to end the eighth. It's a whole new ball game as we enter the ninth inning.

Mookie Betts hits a ball to center field, and it's deep enough to tie the game on a sacrifice fly. Ohtani came up big in the eighth, and Betts made it count.

And now the Yankees pull Kahnle for Luke Weaver. They'll ask their closer to get a five-out save in Game 1 of the World Series. First up: Mookie Betts.

Shohei Ohtani hits a ball about four feet short of a game-tying home run, but it's still a double. Then Gleyber Torres bobbles the ball as it comes in from the outfield, so Ohtani takes third. The Dodgers once again have a runner in scoring position, with one out.

That's Ohtani's first hit of the World Series, and it's a big one.

Tommy Edman, usually a switch-hitter, is hitting right-handed against the righty Tommy Kahnle. Given how bad Edman is hitting as a lefty and how good Kahnle's changeup is against lefties, it's understandable.

Alex Vesia looks just fine as he throws a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Shohei Ohtani is on deck as we head to the bottom of the eighth.

Alex Vesia, who missed the NLCS due to an intercostal injury, is now in for the Dodgers. L.A.'s top arms are Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen. We'll see if they go to either in the ninth if they're still trailing.

The Dodgers are now 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and will have Tommy Edman, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts due up in the eighth.

Tommy Kahnle coming in with two outs and two on looks a bit funky at first because the Dodgers had a lefty in Gavin Lux at the plate. But Kahnle had an active streak of more than 40 changeups in a row coming into this game. That pitch darts away from lefty batters, effectively making him a good platoon matchup in this spot.

Sure enough, Gavin Lux grounds out on the second changeup he sees. Inning over.

Kahnle famously loves spamming changeups, and Lux isn't the best at hitting those pitches. He hit .198 with a .248 slugging percentage and a 35% whiff percentage against offspeed pitches during the regular season.

Kiké Hernández lays down a perfect bunt to advance both runners. But then Will Smith hits a first-pitch pop-out to give the Yankees their second out.

The Yankees pull Holmes to bring in Tommy Kahnle to face Gavin Lux.

Holmes hits Max Muncy in the foot with a breaking ball, and the Dodgers now have two on with no outs. The Yankees pitching coach must have seen something he didn't like because he's out there talking to Holmes now.

Teoscar Hernandez hits a full-count single to lead off the seventh, and that will do it for Cole. The Yankees are bringing in Clay Holmes.

Cole: 6+ innings, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 88 pitches. He's still responsible for the runner on first.

Gerrit Cole comes back out for the seventh inning with 4-5-6 due up for the Dodgers and at 80 pitches. As with Flaherty, we'll see if the Yankees want to go to the bullpen if he gets into any trouble.

Brusdar Graterol strikes out Stanton to end the seventh. Now the Dodgers have nine outs to score a run.

Aaron Judge gets his first hit of the game on a 99 mph sinker from Graterol. Giancarlo Stanton comes up with two outs and a chance for more damage.

The Dodgers bring in Brusdar Graterol, who hasn't pitched in a month, to face the top of the Yankees order. With Evan Phillips off the WS roster due to arm fatigue, the Dodgers need him to be a reliable late-inning arm for this series.

Freeman hits a fly ball to the warning track, but it stays in the park. The Yankees stay ahead 2-1, and the Dodgers are now 0-for-4 with RISP.

Jazz Chisholm fields a hard grounder to third and keeps Edman at third. It comes down to Freddie Freeman with two outs.

Who else? Giancarlo Stanton hit another titanic home run — one with a 116.6 mph exit velocity, higher than any home run tracked in the World Series during the Statcast Era (since 2015) — to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

Stanton’s past five hits this postseason have all been home runs, which is both entirely understandable because it’s Stanton and a completely ridiculous statistic at this time of the year. His October legacy just keeps on growing.

Ohtani grounds out on a close play but advances Edman to third base. The tying run is 90 feet away for the Dodgers with one out.

Tommy Edman has made a few great plays at shortstop today, and now he has a hit. He leads off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the right-field line, and the Dodgers have a runner in scoring position with Ohtani, Betts and Freeman due up.

Banda strikes out Verdugo on a high fastball to get out of it. Still, the Dodgers now have some work to do entering the bottom of the sixth.

And now the Yankees have loaded the bases against Anthony Banda with two outs, and they would have scored another run had it not been for a diving play by Tommy Edman at shortstop. Here comes Alex Verdugo.