LOS ANGELES – Freddie Freeman’s father wanted Mookie Betts to get the at-bat. He wanted the New York Yankees to pitch to Betts instead of intentionally walking him and setting his son up for the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history.

“I was actually hoping Mookie would get hit so Freddie wouldn’t come up,” Fred Freeman said.

WHAT?

“He hasn’t played much lately,” Fred said of his youngest son. “I thought, ‘Mookie swings the bat really well.’”

Fred had a point. Freddie, playing with a seriously sprained ankle, did not feature in two of the last three games in the National League Championship. However, Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the obvious decision.

The Yankees, who led 3-2 in the 10th inning, were one out away from capturing Game 1 of the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers had runners on second and third. Left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. wouldn’t face the right-handed Betts. He would get the left-handed Freeman, who had not had an extra base hit in the postseason before Friday night.

It was over faster than you can say, “Kirk Gibson.”

Freeman attacked Cortes’ first pitch, a 90.5-mph fastball down and in. The ball jumped from his bat to right field at a speed of 110 miles per hour. It would be the heaviest ball Freeman hit for a single since August 31. But Fred, who was sitting up front, just behind home plate, wasn’t sure the ball would go out.

“As soon as he swing, I knew it was a good swing. But you never know,” Fred said. “(I thought) is it far enough? Is it far enough? And then I saw him drop the mic with the bat. And I knew it was gone.”

Freddie’s wife, Chelsea, was in the family suite.

“I literally almost fainted,” she said. “It was absolutely incredible. I have no words.”

In the wild on-field celebration that followed the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory, Freddie sprinted toward Fred and jumped into the net behind home plate. The two hands touched, the son greeting the man who raised him and his two older brothers largely as a single father, the man who to this day gives him batting practice in the offseason. Freddie’s mother, Rosemary, died of melanoma in 2000, when he was 10.

What did he say to his father?

“I just screamed in his face,” Freeman said in his postgame interview with me on Fox. ‘I’m sorry, Dad. He’s been there since I was a little boy and gave me batting practice every day. This isn’t my moment. That is my father’s moment.”

“(My dad) has been there since I was a little boy, giving me batting practice every day. This isn’t my moment, it’s his moment.” 🙏@FreddieFreeman5 joins @Ken_Rosenthal after his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 for the @Dodgers! pic.twitter.com/7KH8fNfIFK

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 26, 2024

Actually it was a moment for everyone.

For those of a certain age, the Gibson homer immediately came to mind. Game 1 of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Gibson hobbles to the plate with two injured legs. A two-out, pinch-hit, walk-off shot in the ninth over Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, who turned a 4-3 deficit into a stunning 5-4 victory.

“But I played the whole game,” Freeman said, prompting laughter in the postgame interview room.

Gibson’s punch staggered the Oakland A’s, the equivalent of the first big punch an underdog takes in a heavyweight fight. The Dodgers upset the A’s, four games to one. Gibson’s at bat was his only one in the Series. If the Dodgers hadn’t won, his homer might not be remembered the same way.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who called Freeman’s shot perhaps “the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever seen,” wasn’t quite ready to make the Gibson comparison.

“That’s iconic,” Roberts said. “I think we will win three more games, that will be part of it.”

For those who like to nitpick, Gibson appeared to be more seriously injured than Freeman. Eckersley was a much more talented pitcher than Cortes. But the parallels between the home runs, all the way to their respective landing spots in the right field stands, did indeed provide an echo of history, the kind of baseball unlike any other sport.

“Everything was the same outside of the fist pumps,” Roberts said, referring to Gibson’s legendary journey around the bases.

Freeman’s journey was remarkable in itself. He held his bat high with his right hand as he walked to first base, did his own version of a mic drop, and even took a bow between second and third base. The Dodgers, accustomed to Freeman’s stoicism, were delighted by his response.

“He’s the classic, when he hits the ball hard, puts the bat down and runs hard,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “I’ve never seen him pimp a home run like that.”

Well, if there ever was a time. . .

“You dream about those moments, even if you’re 35 and have been in the league for 15 years,” Freeman said, “you want to be a part of that.”

Before the game, Freeman joked with his teammates that he would be the first player to steal a base in the Series, triggering a promotion where that player would “steal” a free taco that fans could redeem at Taco Bells across the US.

The promotion was halted this season because Taco Bell is no longer a sponsor of Major League Baseball. The Dodgers, apparently unaware of the change, reacted strongly to Freeman’s suggestion that he might steal a base.

“We all told him, if you do that, we’re going to walk on the field and take you off the field,” Muncy said. “Yes, he hits a triple. Of course it was a bit like that. I didn’t expect anything different.”

Freeman’s triple in the first inning probably should have been a double, but Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo misplayed the carom from the wall along the third base line. Roberts, asked what he was thinking as Freeman chugged into third place, initially responded with one word:

“Stop.”

But Freeman, even as he moves gingerly, insists on playing with a winning edge. He was similarly opportunistic in his first game of the postseason, stealing second place just nine days after spraining his ankle. Doctors told him that recovery from such an injury normally takes four to six weeks.

This postseason, Freeman has been almost painful to watch at times. In San Diego, during the Division Series, he could be seen in the clubhouse struggling to walk barefoot with his ankles turned inward.

On Friday, he said he arrived at Dodger Stadium at 10:30 a.m. PT to begin treatment for a game scheduled to start at 5:08 p.m. However, his six days off came in handy. Freeman remained standing. He said when he wanted to high-five his teammates during introductions, it was the first time he had run in a week.

The ankle wasn’t Freeman’s only physical problem late in the season. He also suffered a hairline fracture in his right middle finger while attempting a ground ball on August 17 in St. Louis. However, that injury cost him minimal time. The ankle has been debilitating, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.

“We had to tell him, ‘Hey, we’re picking you up,’” Muncy said. “He wants to be there every day. And we told him: take your day now, take a day off and be ready for the next match. It’s hard for someone like him to accept that. But everyone in this clubhouse has been behind him all the way.”

Freeman’s father also praised his son’s fortitude.

“I can’t believe he’s playing, let alone doing this,” Fred said. “I’m so proud of him. I don’t even have words for it. I am bursting with pride.”

Before Game 1, Chelsea Freeman gathered the Dodgers women for a toast. Standing on the field after Freddie’s homer, she recalled her message: “If you think back a few months ago how deep we were, to where we are now, it’s just absolutely incredible.”

Chelsea wasn’t talking about the Dodgers. She talked about her family, and in particular Maximus, the youngest of the Freemans’ three sons. In late July, Max, 3, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves.

Max became temporarily paralyzed. He was put on a ventilator. Freeman was away from the team for 10 days and was moved to tears when he returned to the clubhouse to find blue T-shirts with #MaxStrong on the front and Freeman’s name and No. 5 on the back.

Chelsea and Freddie Freeman, with their sons Max (in arms), Brandon (right) and Charlie (center). (Ken Rosenthal/The Athletic)

All three Freeman boys were in the Dodgers’ family room when Freddie hit his grand slam Friday night, “probably panicking down there,” Chelsea said with a laugh. Then the whole family gathered on the field. Max, on his way to full recovery, walked with a limp, but found comfort in his father’s arms.

“It’s been a long three months, but these fans here, when I came back that first game, they showed love,” Freeman said during his interview on Fox, as the crowd hung on every word. “I’m just glad I was able to give an answer tonight.”

By then, Freeman had dried up after the ritual dunking in ice water by teammates Muncy and Teoscar Hernández. His teammates were still in the clubhouse talking about him, praising his character and marveling at his strength.

“He couldn’t be a better person,” Betts said.

Or, as Roberts put it: “If you do things the right way, play the right way, you’re a good teammate, I just believe the game honors you. Tonight Freddie was honored.”

Funny how the game can get so poetic, isn’t it? Boone called on Cortes to face Shohei Ohtani with two on and one out. At that point, Ohtani went 18-of-his-last-24 with runners in scoring position. In the batting cage, Kiké Hernández made a not-so-bold prediction.

“I thought Shohei was going to end it,” Hernández said. “But I’m really glad Shohei didn’t end it.”

No, it had to end the way it did. While Ohtani pulled a foul pop-up that Verdugo somehow caught while sprawled in the stands, both runners automatically advanced as he ended up out of play. While the Yankees walked a batter, Betts deliberately loaded the bases. And where Freeman hit his unique slam.

Fred Freeman was right: Betts had indeed swung the bat well. But after what his son accomplished in Game 1, Fred recognized he had to adjust his expectations.

“And Freddie now too,” Fred said, enjoying the moment and laughing into the night.

(Top photo of Freddie Freeman: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)