Dodgers take Game 1 in dramatic fashion

Game 1 of the World Series sets the tone for the entire series.  History says that winners of Game 1 have a 61% chance of winning the World Series.  A pitcher dual for 4 scoreless innings is how the 2024 World Series started with Dodgers’ starting pitcher Jack Flaherty going 5.1 innings before earning 2 runs against with 6 strikeouts and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole went 6.0 innings with 1 earned run and 4 strikeouts. 

The Dodgers tacked on the first run of the game in the bottom of the 5th when Will Smith launched a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Kike Hernandez which gave Los Angeles a 1 to 0 lead.  New York responded with a 2-run moonshot home run to left field by Giancarlo Stanton that also scored Juan Soto to give the Yankees a 2 to 1 lead in the top of the 6th.  The Dodgers would end up using a total of 6 pitchers for Game 1.  Mookie Betts towered a fly ball to center field that would score Shohei Ohtani to even the score 2 to 2 in the bottom of the 8th. 

Extra innings were needed in game 1 which seems to foreshadow what is to come in the rest of the series.  Opening the 10th inning, the Yankees seemed to break through on a Volpe grounder that was ruled a fielder’s choice that scored Chisholm Jr. that was on 3rd to take a 3 to 2 lead.  The storyline could not have been written better.  It was as if Dodgers' manager, Dave Roberts, knew that the key to this game was to load the bases and make the Yankees pitchers throw strikes. 

That’s exactly what happened.  With a Gavin Lux walk, and a Tommy Edman single the Dodgers had the heart of the lineup set to bat.  Shohei Ohtani fouled out, but would advance the runners to second and third bases.  The Yankees would then choose to intentionally walk Mookie Betts, setting up Freddie Freeman with bases loaded, 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.  The first pitch from Yankees closer, Nestor Cortes, might as well have been served on a platter.  A 92 MPH Four-seam fastball came over the plate enough for Freddie Freeman to launch it into left-center field and give the Dodgers’ a 6 to 3 victory, a first-ever grand slam walk-off victory in World Series history, and most importantly a 1 to 0 game lead in the World Series.  Saturday night will feature two pitchers that have had at least 1 win in the postseason.  The Dodgers will start Yoshinobu Yamamoto while the Yankees will have Carlos Rodon on the mound for Game 2.