As the ball flew toward the stands, as the Los Angeles Dodgers poured out of their dugout and onto the field, most of the sold-out crowd of 52,394 couldn’t help but think of Kirk Gibson. Another stumbling left-handed slugger, who defied common sense and biology, limped to the plate and ended Game 1 of a World Series with a walk-off home run to right field, putting LA three wins away from the title.

But as he danced around the bases, Freddie Freeman, owner of the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, with DODGERS 6, YANKEES 3 flashing on the scoreboard, thought of his father.

“He’s been giving me batting practice since I can remember,” he says. “My swing is because of him. My approach is thanks to him. Thanks to him I am who I am.” So after greeting his teammates at home plate, he headed to the stands, where he found his father in the front row. “If he didn’t like baseball, I wouldn’t be playing this game here,” Freddie says. “So that’s Fred Freeman’s moment right there.”

As for the Gibson comparison, the other most dramatic walk-off in LA history came when, in 1988, Gibson, battling a torn tendon in his left leg and a torn ligament in his right, came in as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning and cracked a two-run shot – Freeman just grins.

“But I played the whole game,” he says.

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If availability is indeed the most important skill, Freeman’s October should put him in the Hall of Fame. He severely sprained his right ankle trying to avoid a hit at first base on September 26, and has spent the intervening month hopping from the training table to the infield and back. Doctors suggested he take four to six weeks off. He took eight days. He has missed just three playoff games. He spends hours every day in treatment and barely makes it to the hitters’ meeting. His teammates alternately draw inspiration from his perseverance and wince every time he does so.

“The game honors you,” says manager Dave Roberts. “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.”

However, sometimes that urge to play the game the right way drives them crazy. On Friday, for example, the Dodgers were the only people more annoyed than the Yankees when New York left fielder Alex Verdugo misplayed a Freeman grounder. There was Freeman, who dished out a triple. “We’re all like, ‘Oh no, Verdugo, you should have cut that!’” Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández recalled. ‘Stop him first or second!’”

Roberts says, “I was glad he came out standing up.”

Hernández says he’s actually glad the Dodgers lost twice in the National League Championship Series to the New York Mets, because a series would have come five games higher to start the World Series. Instead, they bought themselves three extra days. “The days off were huge (for Freeman),” he says.

Freeman had been out of action for a week before jogging for introductions before Game 1, but he started feeling better two or three days earlier, when he and hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc noticed he could finally get strength from the ground again . “In this way he transfers the pressure to the inside of his foot,” Van Scoyoc explains. “He avoided that.”

When Freeman was at his worst — late in the NLCS — he could barely swing the bat. Before Friday, he hadn’t had an extra base hit since the injury and was hitting .167 in the NLCS. Roberts acknowledged before Game 6 of that series that “you could argue” that Freeman’s insistence on playing was starting to hurt the team. “But I could also argue that he’s doing everything he can to get on the field and post, I think, and that speaks loudly in that clubhouse,” Roberts added. For his part, Freeman says he was unaware of the criticism and disagrees with it.

But he started lining the ball to left field during batting practice this week, and he knew he was back, or close to it.

The Yankees were less certain. In the bottom of the 10th, after taking a 3–2 lead in the top half of the frame, New York reliever Jake Cousins ​​allowed a one-out walk and then a single to bring in Shohei Ohtani. Manager Aaron Boone called up left-handed starter Nestor Cortés, who had been out since September 18 with a strained flexor tendon. Ohtani went 2-for-12 against Cortés. “I don’t know if you ever like a game against Ohtani, but I felt like Nestor could give us a chance,” Boone said. Cortés retired Ohtani on an errant pop to Verdugo, but when the runners reached second and third bases, leaving first open, Boone elected to walk right-handed Mookie Betts and chase Freeman.

“We all thought Shohei was going to end it,” Hernández says. “It would have been a fairytale ending to his first World Series game, but the fact that Freddie was the one to do it – even better.”

Freeman says he understood the decision. Roberts said he saw how his first baseman took it personally. “I think he did, and I think he should,” he says. “They are competitors, and that’s how it should be.”

“Fre-ddie, Fre-ddie,” the fans sang. In the bullpen, the Dodgers relievers got goosebumps. Freeman decided to look inside – so he could avoid the cutter and slider – and wait for a fastball. He didn’t have to wait long: first throw, 150 km/h, in and on his knees. He knew it was gone immediately. And as he jogged around the bases, for the first time in a month, his ankle didn’t hurt at all.